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Stutts LA, Blomquist KK. The impact of fitspiration comments on adult women's body dissatisfaction and negative affect. Body Image 2024; 49:101708. [PMID: 38554668 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
The present study examined the impact of writing different types of comments in response to fitspiration (fitness inspiration) images on women's body dissatisfaction and negative affect. Women (N = 256) from the general population (age range: 18 to 49) were randomized to write one of three types of comments on the same fitspiration images: appearance (comment on the woman's appearance), functionality (comment on what the woman's body can do), or background (comment on the image background). Participants completed measures of state body dissatisfaction and negative affect pre- and post-exposure and measures of appearance comparison and functionality appreciation post-exposure. After controlling for pre-body dissatisfaction due to a baseline difference among groups, there was no difference among groups in body dissatisfaction at post-exposure. Negative affect decreased from pre- to post-exposure across all groups, but there was no difference by group or interaction by time and group. The background group reported lower state appearance comparison than the appearance group. There were no group differences in functionality appreciation. Our results suggest that commenting on image backgrounds might decrease appearance comparison relative to making appearance comments and that writing comments on appearance, functionality, or the background in response to fitspiration may be beneficial for mood.
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Vendemia MA, Fox J. How social media images of sexualized young women elicit appearance commentary from their peers and reinforce objectification. Body Image 2024; 49:101683. [PMID: 38452731 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2023] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
Social media platforms like Instagram enable users to share, view, and provide feedback on images, including photographs of oneself (e.g., selfies). In a 3 × 2 between-subjects online experiment, we investigated how women evaluate and react to photographs of their peers on social media and the role that feedback might play in both objectification of others and oneself. U.S. adult young women (N = 256; Mage = 20.06, SDage = 1.57) viewed social media images of sexualized peers, non-sexualized peers, or landscapes (control). Then, they provided feedback on the images via social media hashtags (#) or not (tagging vs. no tagging). Results revealed that participants who viewed sexualized peers demonstrated the highest levels of state self-objectification and were more likely to dehumanize the women in the photos. Hashtags generated by participants indicated that those who viewed sexualized peers engaged in greater appearance-related objectification, specifically related to body parts, and sexual objectification than those who viewed non-sexualized peers. In addition, generating hashtags that specifically focused on body parts heightened viewers' state self-objectification. These findings illustrate the complexities of social media content production and consumption, particularly for young women.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jesse Fox
- The Ohio State University, United States
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Wu H, Zhang L, Ren S. A comparative study of self-praise on English and Chinese social media: strategies, themes, and motivations. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1279853. [PMID: 38162965 PMCID: PMC10755938 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1279853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
The act of self-praise, a novel and prevalent discourse pattern on social media across different cultures, is still understudied. As such, this study delves into self-praise from linguistic and psychological perspectives by examining and comparing the strategies, themes, and motivations of self-praise on English and Chinese social media. A discourse-based analysis of the data comprising 200 posts from Twitter (English) users and 200 posts from Weibo (Chinese) users revealed that Twitter users favored more unmodified explicit self-praise strategies, while Weibo users opted for more implicit self-praise strategies. Both groups employed explicit self-praise equally, but with different sub-strategies. The most prevalent themes were appearance, competence/performance, skills, virtues, and self-encouragement. Appearance was more dominant among Twitter users, whereas skills and self-encouragement were more popular among Weibo users. Both groups valued competence/performance and virtues, but with different virtues. Twitter users valued cherishing friendship, bravery, and maturity, whereas Weibo users stressed kindness, cherishing kinship, and thoughtfulness. Two semi-structured interviews conducted with six Twitter participants and six Weibo participants indicated that the motivations for online self-praise in both groups were psychological needs such as self-flattery, self-presentation, and self-encouragement, while commercial profit was a motivation only for Weibo participants. This study also discusses the social and cultural factors that may account for these differences and provides implications for future research on online self-praise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanwei Wu
- School of Foreign Studies, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Lehua Zhang
- School of Foreign Studies, Hunan Applied Technology University, Changde, China
| | - Shuai Ren
- School of Politics and Public Administration, South China Normal University, Guangdong, China
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van Oosten JM, Vandenbosch L, Peter J. Predicting the use of visually oriented social media: The role of psychological well-being, body image concerns and sought appearance gratifications. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2023.107730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
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5
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Lawrence SE, Lessard LM, Puhl RM, Foster GD, Cardel MI. "Look beyond the weight and accept me": Adolescent perspectives on parental weight communication. Body Image 2023; 45:11-19. [PMID: 36731347 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Revised: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Critical weight communication between parents and their adolescent children is prevalent and harmful. However, research on adolescent perspectives about parental weight communication is limited. The present mixed-methods study aimed to address this gap using inductive thematic analysis of 1743 adolescents' (Mage=14.61 years, SDage=2.48) preferences regarding parental weight communication in response to an open-ended prompt, and quantitative analyses to examine age, gender, race/ethnicity, and weight-related differences in subthemes. In their responses, adolescents articulated 1) whether and 2) how parental weight communication should-or should not-occur, and 3) what these conversations should entail. We identified 15 subthemes across these categories-the endorsement of which often varied by adolescents' demographic and anthropometric characteristics. For example, some adolescents (especially cisgender girls and transgender/gender diverse adolescents) preferred that their parents talk about weight less often (n = 184), while others (especially multiracial/ethnic or Hispanic/Latinx adolescents) hoped that, if parents were to discuss weight with them, they do so in a manner that was compassionate and respectful (n = 150). Across most subthemes, adolescents described adverse responses (e.g., feeling insecure, embarrassed, or hurt) when parents discussed their weight in non-preferred ways. Collectively, findings can inform interventions to promote more supportive health-focused communication in families.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha E Lawrence
- Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
| | - Leah M Lessard
- Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT, USA
| | - Rebecca M Puhl
- Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT, USA; Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Gary D Foster
- WW International, Inc., New York, NY, USA; Center for Weight and Eating Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Michelle I Cardel
- WW International, Inc., New York, NY, USA; Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
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6
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Maheux AJ, Roberts SR, Nesi J, Widman L, Choukas-Bradley S. Psychometric properties and factor structure of the appearance-related social media consciousness scale among emerging adults. Body Image 2022; 43:63-74. [PMID: 36055008 PMCID: PMC10224750 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2022] [Revised: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC) is the persistent awareness of one's attractiveness on social media. The ASMC Scale, recently developed for use with adolescents (Choukas-Bradley et al., 2020), provides a promising tool for systematically examining ASMC and associations with mental health. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the ASMC Scale among emerging adult men and women. Participants for Study 1 were 428 emerging adults (M age = 21.9) from five Anglophone, industrialized countries (U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand). Results from Study 1 provide evidence that the 13-item ASMC Scale has a unidimensional structure, strong internal consistency, measurement invariance across gender, and convergent validity (i.e., associations with related offline appearance concerns and cognitions) and incremental validity (i.e., associations with depressive symptoms and disordered eating, above and beyond time spent on social media). Participants from Study 2 were 296 U.S. college students (M age = 18.6). Results from Study 2 confirmed the factor structure and further demonstrated the convergent and incremental validity (above and beyond both time spent on social media and offline appearance concerns) of the ASMC Scale. Findings suggest that the ASMC Scale can be used among emerging adults, aiding future research investigating social media experiences and mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne J Maheux
- University of Delaware, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 105 The Green, Newark, DE 19716, USA; University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology, 210 S. Bouquet St., Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA.
| | - Savannah R Roberts
- University of Delaware, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 105 The Green, Newark, DE 19716, USA; University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology, 210 S. Bouquet St., Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA
| | - Jacqueline Nesi
- Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, 222 Richmond St., Providence, RI 02903, USA; Rhode Island Hospital, 1 Hoppin St., Providence, RI 02903, USA
| | - Laura Widman
- North Carolina State University, Department of Psychology, Campus Box 7650, Raleigh, NC 27695-7650, USA
| | - Sophia Choukas-Bradley
- University of Delaware, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 105 The Green, Newark, DE 19716, USA; University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology, 210 S. Bouquet St., Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA
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Choukas-Bradley S, Roberts SR, Maheux AJ, Nesi J. The Perfect Storm: A Developmental-Sociocultural Framework for the Role of Social Media in Adolescent Girls' Body Image Concerns and Mental Health. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2022; 25:681-701. [PMID: 35841501 PMCID: PMC9287711 DOI: 10.1007/s10567-022-00404-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
In this theoretical review paper, we provide a developmental-sociocultural framework for the role of social media (SM) in adolescent girls' body image concerns, and in turn, depressive symptoms and disordered eating. We propose that the features of SM (e.g., idealized images of peers, quantifiable feedback) intersect with adolescent developmental factors (e.g., salience of peer relationships) and sociocultural gender socialization processes (e.g., societal over-emphasis on girls' and women's physical appearance) to create the "perfect storm" for exacerbating girls' body image concerns. We argue that, ultimately, body image concerns may be a key mechanism underlying associations between adolescent girls' SM use and mental health. In the context of proposing this framework, we provide empirical evidence for how SM may increase adolescent girls' body image concerns through heightening their focus on (1) other people's physical appearance (e.g., through exposure to idealized images of peers, celebrities, and SM influencers; quantifiable indicators of approval); and (2) their own appearance (e.g., through appearance-related SM consciousness; exposure to idealized self-images; encouraging over-valuing of appearance; and peer approval of photos/videos). Our framework highlights new avenues for future research on adolescent girls' SM use and mental health, which recognize the central role of body image.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophia Choukas-Bradley
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 3137 Sennott Square, 210 South Bouquet Street (Main office, 3rd floor), Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, 105 The Green, Newark, DE, 19716, USA.
| | - Savannah R Roberts
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, 105 The Green, Newark, DE, 19716, USA
| | - Anne J Maheux
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, 105 The Green, Newark, DE, 19716, USA
| | - Jacqueline Nesi
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, 222 Richmond St, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
- Rhode Island Hospital, 1 Hoppin St., Suite 204, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
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