Act 2: Extending Theory on Social Media and Body Image Concerns

Abstract

In an article in this issue of Sex Roles, I proposed a transactional model of social media effects on body image concerns that emphasizes the role played by individual vulnerability characteristics, gratifications sought from social media, and a host of mediating psychological processes. Commentators offered thoughtful responses to the model, pointing to strengths, but also targeting a number of areas for additional emphasis and ameliorative attention. This article, with a focus on the U.S. context, reviews each of the papers. It summarizes their main suggestions, and pulls together the host of forward-looking ideas, including the role played by cultural forces, the interplay between social and conventional mass media, and an emphasis on the salutary effects of social media on body image processes.