Abstract
Internalisation of appearance ideals moderates the relationship between exposure to media images and body dissatisfaction. To date, the role of thin- and muscular-ideal internalisation in the context of social media remains under explored, particularly for boys. As such, we aimed to explore how social media use (Instagram and Snapchat) was related to body dissatisfaction, and whether thin- and muscular-ideal internalisation would moderate this relationship in a sample of 1153 adolescent boys and girls (55.42% males; Mage = 13.71, SD = 1.14). As hypothesised, social media use, and thin- and muscular ideal internalisation were positively correlated with body dissatisfaction in both genders. In moderation analyses, thin-ideal internalisation emerged as the only variable that had a significant effect on body dissatisfaction in both genders. Additionally, the influence of social media use on body dissatisfaction was moderated by muscular-ideal internalisation in boys, whereby for boys with high muscular-ideal internalisation, greater social media use was associated with greater body dissatisfaction. The two-way (muscular x thin-ideal internalisation) and three-way interaction (social media use x thin-ideal internalisation x muscular-ideal internalisation) effects on body dissatisfaction were non-significant. These findings emphasise the importance of considering the sociocultural environment (i.e., new media influences) as frameworks for understanding body dissatisfaction and suggest targeting of internalisation of appearance ideals in body dissatisfaction prevention programs.
Highlights
Body dissatisfaction, the negative self-evaluation of one’s appearance [1], is experienced across the lifespan, but adolescence is a period of particular vulnerability [2]
Emerging evidence suggests that mass media can be highly influential as it may lead adolescents to internalise Western societal ideals about physical attractiveness and beauty, resulting in dissatisfaction with their own appearance when they are unable to mirror these standards [6,7], yet this remains unexamined in the context of social media
The first hypothesis, that appearance-related social media use would be positively and significantly associated with body dissatisfaction in girls and boys, was supported
Summary
The negative self-evaluation of one’s appearance [1], is experienced across the lifespan, but adolescence is a period of particular vulnerability [2]. An emerging factor relevant to body dissatisfaction in adolescence is social media use, which has been found to predict increases in body dissatisfaction among girls and boys [3]. Social media does not affect body dissatisfaction to the same degree in all young people and individual characteristics may affect the extent to which social media use is associated with body dissatisfaction. One such factor is the internalisation of appearance ideals that promote thinness in females and muscularity in males [4,5]. This study aims to fill this gap by examining how social media use
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