Abstract
A growing body of research has demonstrated negative effects of sexualization in the media on adolescents’ body image, but longitudinal studies and research including interactive and social media are scarce. The current study explored the longitudinal associations of adolescents’ use of sexualized video games (SVG) and sexualized Instagram images (SII) with body image concerns. Specifically, our study examined relations between adolescents’ SVG and SII use and appearance comparisons, thin- and muscular-ideal internalization, valuing appearance over competence, and body surveillance. A sample of 660 German adolescents (327 female, 333 male; Mage = 15.09 years) participated in two waves with an interval of 6 months. A structural equation model showed that SVG and SII use at Time 1 predicted body surveillance indirectly via valuing appearance over competence at Time 2. Furthermore, SVG and SII use indirectly predicted both thin- and muscular-ideal internalization through appearance comparisons at Time 1. In turn, thin-ideal internalization at Time 1 predicted body surveillance indirectly via valuing appearance over competence at Time 2. The results indicate that sexualization in video games and on Instagram can play an important role in increasing body image concerns among adolescents. We discuss the findings with respect to objectification theory and the predictive value of including appearance comparisons in models explaining the relation between sexualized media and self-objectification.
Highlights
A growing body of research has demonstrated negative effects of sexualization in the media on adolescents’ body image, but longitudinal studies and research including interactive and social media are scarce
The results indicate that sexualization in video games and on Instagram can play an important role in increasing body image concerns among adolescents
Significant gender differences were found for sexualized Instagram images (SII) use, with female adolescents reporting higher consumption compared with males
Summary
A growing body of research has demonstrated negative effects of sexualization in the media on adolescents’ body image, but longitudinal studies and research including interactive and social media are scarce. The current study explored the longitudinal associations of adolescents’ use of sexualized video games (SVG) and sexualized Instagram images (SII) with body image concerns. In top-selling video games, characters are frequently depicted with sexually revealing clothing or partially nude (Downs and Smith 2010) Both male and female characters often feature unrealistic body proportions (Dill and Thill 2007; Lynch et al 2016). 87% of teenagers report playing video games, with young women spending over 5 h and young men over 13 h per week gaming (Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest 2019) Taken together, these numbers draw a clear picture: The level of sexualized content is high on Instagram and in video games, and they are among the most popular media formats for current youth. Given that adolescence is a vulnerable phase for appearance-related social pressure (Helfert and Warschburger 2013), more research on the potentially adverse effects of sexualization in media popular among teenagers is needed
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