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Research papers on Social media and body image

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  1. A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents

    Betul Keles, Niall McCrae, Annmarie Grealish · 2019 · International Journal of Adolescence and Youth · 1,891 citations

    While becoming inextricable to our daily lives, online social media are blamed for increasing mental health problems in younger people. This systematic review synthesized evidence on the influence of social media use on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. A search of PsycINFO, Medline, Embase, CINAHL and SSCI databases reaped 13 eligible studies, of which 12 were cross-sectional. Findings were classified into four domains of social media: time spent, activity, investment and addiction. All domains correlated with depression, anxiety and psychological distress. However, there are considerable caveats due to methodological limitations of cross-sectional design, sampl

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  2. Social Media Use and Adolescent Mental Health: Findings From the UK Millennium Cohort Study

    Yvonne Kelly, Afshin Zilanawala, Cara Booker, et al. · 2018 · EClinicalMedicine · 748 citations

    BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests social media use is associated with mental health in young people but underlying processes are not well understood. This paper i) assesses whether social media use is associated with adolescents' depressive symptoms, and ii) investigates multiple potential explanatory pathways via online harassment, sleep, self-esteem and body image. METHODS: We used population based data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study on 10,904 14 year olds. Multivariate regression and path models were used to examine associations between social media use and depressive symptoms. FINDINGS: The magnitude of association between social media use and depressive symptoms was larger for girls th

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  3. Weight status and body image perceptions in adolescents: current perspectives

    Justine J. Reel, Dana Voelker, Christy Greenleaf · 2015 · Adolescent Health Medicine and Therapeutics · 639 citations

    Adolescence represents a pivotal stage in the development of positive or negative body image. Many influences exist during the teen years including transitions (eg, puberty) that affect one's body shape, weight status, and appearance. Weight status exists along a spectrum between being obese (ie, where one's body weight is in the 95th percentile for age and gender) to being underweight. Salient influences on body image include the media, which can target adolescents, and peers who help shape beliefs about the perceived body ideal. Internalization of and pressures to conform to these socially prescribed body ideals help to explain associations between weight status and body image. The concept

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  4. Television Images and Adolescent Girls' Body Image Disturbance

    Renée A. Botta · 1999 · Journal of Communication · 388 citations

    The impact of media images on adolescents' body image and thin ideal endorsement has been consistently asserted in the body image literature, yet has remained inadequately tested. I used social comparison theory and critical viewing with a sample of 214 high school girls to predict adolescents' body-image disturbance and thin ideal endorsement. Media variables accounted fr 15% of the variance for drive for thinness, 17% for body dissatisfaction, 16% for bulimic behaviors, and 33% for thin ideal endorsement. Results suggest that body image processing is the boy to understanding how television images affect adolescent girls' body-image attitudes and behaviors.

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  8. Incorporating social media and muscular ideal internalization into the tripartite influence model of body image: Towards a modern understanding of adolescent girls’ body dissatisfaction

    Savannah R. Roberts, Anne J. Maheux, Rowan A. Hunt, et al. · 2022 · Body Image · 153 citations

    The tripartite influence model stipulates that appearance pressures from three sources (family, peers, traditional media) lead adolescent girls to internalize a thin appearance ideal and engage in social appearance comparisons, resulting in body dissatisfaction (Thompson et al., 1999). Social media is a modern source of appearance pressure and, increasingly, adolescent girls desire an appearance that is both thin and muscular. The current study of U.S. adolescent girls (n = 543, Mage = 15.58, 49.17% Latina, 28.18% White, 8.66% Black, 7.55% Asian, 6.45% multiracial/another race/ethnicity) incorporates social media appearance pressures and muscular ideal internalization into the tripartite inf

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  9. Processing Body Image on Social Media: Gender Differences in Adolescent Boys’ and Girls’ Agency and Active Coping

    Ciara Mahon, David Hevey · 2021 · Frontiers in Psychology · 121 citations

    Although scholars continue to debate the influence of social media on body image, increased social media use, especially engaging in appearance-related behaviors may be a potential risk factor for body dissatisfaction in adolescents. Little research has investigated how adolescents process appearance-related content and the potential strategies they use to protect body image perceptions on social media. To investigate coping strategies used by adolescents, four qualitative focus groups were conducted with 29 adolescents (23 girls) aged 15–16 years (M = 15.31, SD = 0.47) in mixed-gender Irish secondary schools. Thematic analysis revealed that adolescents employed many different behavioral str

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  10. The Selfie Generation: Examining the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Early Adolescent Body Image

    Ilyssa Salomon, Christia Spears Brown · 2018 · The Journal of Early Adolescence · 114 citations

    Social media use among adolescents continues to increase each year. This cross-sectional study explored how the amount of time spent using social media and the frequency of specific behaviors on social media, namely, behaviors that involve self-objectification, were related to body surveillance and body shame among a sample of early adolescents ( N = 142; 43 boys and 99 girls, [Formula: see text] = 12.44 years, SD age = 0.61). Utilizing self-report measures, three types of social media were examined: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Analyses indicated that greater levels of self-objectifying social media use predicted greater body shame among youth, and this was mediated by an associated in

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  11. Mitigating Harms of Social Media for Adolescent Body Image and Eating Disorders: A Review

    Suzanne E. Mazzeo, Madison Weinstock, Taylor Vashro, et al. · 2024 · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · 69 citations

    Social media has negative effects on adolescent body image and disordered eating behaviors, yet adolescents are unlikely to discontinue engaging with these platforms. Thus, it is important to identify strategies that can reduce the harms of social media on adolescent mental health. This article reviews research on social media and adolescent body image, and discusses strategies to reduce risks associated with social media use. Topics covered include interventions aimed at mitigating social media's negative impacts, the body-positivity movement, and policies regulating adolescents' social media use. Overall, this review highlights specific factors (such as staffing, duration, modality, facili

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  12. Social Network Sites, Friends, and Celebrities: The Roles of Social Comparison and Celebrity Involvement in Adolescents’ Body Image Dissatisfaction

    Shirley S. Ho, Edmund W. J. Lee, Youqing Liao · 2016 · Social Media + Society · 69 citations

    This study applies the social comparison theory to examine the effects of adolescents’ engagement in comparison with friends and celebrities on social network sites (SNSs) on (a) their body image dissatisfaction (BID) and (b) their drive to be thin (DT) or muscular (DM). The study also examines celebrity involvement as an antecedent of the outcome variables. Data were collected through a survey of 1,059 adolescents in Singapore. Regression analyses indicate that SNSs use was related to adolescents’ BID. Specifically, social comparison with friends on SNSs was significantly associated with adolescents’ BID, DT, and DM. Gender differences were also observed—social comparison with celebrities

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  13. Social Media Effects Regarding Eating Disorders and Body Image in Young Adolescents

    Khushi Suhag, Shyambabu P. Rauniyar · 2024 · Cureus · 67 citations

    The following study investigates how eating problems and young people's body image are affected by social media. As social media becomes more pervasive, young teenagers are exposed to many pictures, messages, and influencers encouraging unachievable body and beauty ideals. The study investigates the link between social media usage and the development of binge eating disorder patterns and undesirable body image judgments. It also sheds light on the influence that so-called social media influencers and celebrities have on encouraging disordered eating patterns and forming negative body image perceptions. On websites like Instagram and TikTok, exposure to deliberately selected photographs of "i

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  14. Influence of Social Media Use on Body Image and Well-Being Among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review.

    Irene Vincente-Benito, María del Valle Ramírez-Durán · 2023 · Journal of psychosocial nursing and mental health services · 58 citations

    Social media has been classified as a new form of addiction. The aim of the current systematic review was to analyze social media's impact on body image and well-being among adolescents and young adults. Twenty-one articles published from 2015 to April 2020 were analyzed. Misuse or intensive use of social media was related to body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, risky behaviors, and eating disorders. Information manipulation, lack of media literacy, and internalization of ideal body standards trigger mental problems and risky eating behaviors in this population. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, xx(xx), xx-xx.].

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  15. Self-esteem and social media addiction level in adolescents: The mediating role of body image

    M. Çolak, Ozlem Bingol, Ali Dayi · 2023 · Indian Journal of Psychiatry · 50 citations

    Background: There are many studies examining the relationship between social media and self-esteem. Studies examining the relationships between the self-esteem, social media use, and body image of adolescents are limited in the literature. Aim: This study aimed to examine the relationship between self-esteem and social media addiction levels in adolescents and the mediating role of body image in the relationship between these two variables. Methods: The sample of the study consisted of 204 adolescents, 67 (32.8%) girls and 137 (67.2%) boys, with a mean age of 15.90 ± 1.20 years, who were high school students. The self-esteem levels of the participants were evaluated with the “Rosenberg Self-

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  19. Digital social evaluation: Relationships between receiving likes, comments, and follows on social media and adolescents' body image concerns.

    Scott J. Fatt, J. Fardouly · 2023 · Body image · 26 citations

    A defining feature of social media is its social interactivity, but limited research has investigated how various aspects of digital social evaluation (i.e., likes, follows, comments) may be related with users' body image concerns. This study investigated the relationships between aspects of digital social evaluation and body image concerns in adolescents. Australian adolescents (N = 245, 58.4 % male, Mage = 13.79, SD = 1.11) completed online surveys measuring digital social evaluation frequency (likes, follows, positive and negative comments about appearance and non-appearance), perceived importance (likes, number of followers), body dissatisfaction, restrictive eating attitudes, and drive

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  20. Different Categories of Social Media Use and Their Association With Body Image Among Adolescents in 42 Countries

    Meyran Boniel-Nissim, M. Bersia, N. Canale, et al. · 2024 · International Journal of Public Health · 13 citations

    Objectives Social media has become integrated into adolescents’ lives and influences body image perceptions. Our study examined four patterns of social media use (SMU): non-active, active, intensive, and problematic. We hypothesised that intensive SMU and problematic SMU would be associated with negative body image (negative subjective body weight) and over/underestimated body weight congruence, compared to non-active and active SMU. In addition, we expect these associations to be stronger for girls. Methods Data from 190,892 respondents aged 11, 13, and 15 from 42 countries involved in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study were analysed. Results Findings revealed higher rates o

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  23. Physical Activity, Social Media Use, Anxiety, Interoception, and Body Image: A Cross-Sectional Study of Rural Adolescents

    Janette M. Watkins, Janelle M. Goss, Vanessa M. (Martinez) Kercher, et al. · 2025 · American Journal of Health Promotion · 5 citations

    Purpose This investigation aimed to explore relationships among health behaviors, psychological factors, and body image in rural adolescents. Design A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Setting: The study took place in a rural school in the Midwest region of the United States. Subjects Participants (n = 45) were rural adolescents (6th-9th grade). Measures Physical activity was assessed using the CAPL-2 and IPAQ, social media usage and addiction were evaluated through daily screen time and the BSMAS, body image was measured using the BSQ and BAS-2, anxiety levels were assessed with the GAD-7, and interoceptive abilities were measured by the MAIA-Y. These measures are validated for use in a

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