U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

  • Publications
  • Account settings
  • My Bibliography
  • Collections
  • Citation manager

Save citation to file

Email citation, add to collections.

  • Create a new collection
  • Add to an existing collection

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search, create a file for external citation management software, your rss feed.

  • Search in PubMed
  • Search in NLM Catalog
  • Add to Search

#Take idealized bodies out of the picture: A scoping review of social media content aiming to protect and promote positive body image

Affiliations.

  • 1 APPEAR, Department of Applied Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatric Emergency & Acute Care, Lapeyronie Hospital, CHRU, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 2 School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora (Melbourne), VIC, Australia.
  • PMID: 33798800
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.03.009

Much evidence has highlighted detrimental effects of social media on body image, and attention has turned towards identifying content that could support and promote positive body image. This study aimed to conduct a scoping review of the emerging evidence focused on social media content that might support positive body image. A total of n = 35 studies (21 experimental) examining social media were identified along with n = 11 studies not specifically focusing on social media but with clear implications. Overall, findings suggest that images that do not portray individuals are most helpful for body image, as well as those portraying appearances diverging from appearance ideals. Our review also identifies types of social media content that have so far not been found to protect body image, and those not sufficiently evaluated. Regarding textual captions and comments, the most promising avenue involves highlighting the contrived and unrealistic nature of social media content. However, empirical data are limited and not robust. Body acceptance-related statements have so far not been found to be helpful for body image, and findings regarding the usefulness of using social marketing strategies (such as hashtags) to identify content that may be more realistic is nascent and conflicted.

Keywords: Appearance; Captions; Comments; Diversity; Positive body image; Review; Social media.

Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

  • #BodyPositive: A qualitative exploration of young people's responses to body positive social media content. Rodgers RF, Laveway K, Zalvino J, Cardone W, Wang L. Rodgers RF, et al. Body Image. 2023 Dec;47:101613. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.08.005. Epub 2023 Aug 31. Body Image. 2023. PMID: 37659247
  • #Bopo: Enhancing body image through body positive social media- evidence to date and research directions. Rodgers RF, Wertheim EH, Paxton SJ, Tylka TL, Harriger JA. Rodgers RF, et al. Body Image. 2022 Jun;41:367-374. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.03.008. Epub 2022 May 4. Body Image. 2022. PMID: 35525155 Review.
  • Digital modification and body image on social media: Disclaimer labels, captions, hashtags, and comments. Tiggemann M. Tiggemann M. Body Image. 2022 Jun;41:172-180. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.02.012. Epub 2022 Mar 5. Body Image. 2022. PMID: 35259655 Review.
  • Add a comment … how fitspiration and body positive captions attached to social media images influence the mood and body esteem of young female Instagram users. Davies B, Turner M, Udell J. Davies B, et al. Body Image. 2020 Jun;33:101-105. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.009. Epub 2020 Mar 17. Body Image. 2020. PMID: 32193166
  • #bodypositivity: A content analysis of body positive accounts on Instagram. Cohen R, Irwin L, Newton-John T, Slater A. Cohen R, et al. Body Image. 2019 Jun;29:47-57. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.02.007. Epub 2019 Mar 1. Body Image. 2019. PMID: 30831334
  • The Association of Body Image Perceptions with Behavioral and Health Outcomes among Young Adults. Jiménez-Morcillo J, Ramos-Campo DJ, Rodríguez-Besteiro S, Clemente-Suárez VJ. Jiménez-Morcillo J, et al. Nutrients. 2024 Apr 25;16(9):1281. doi: 10.3390/nu16091281. Nutrients. 2024. PMID: 38732530 Free PMC article.
  • #SexyBodyPositive: When Sexualization Does Not Undermine Young Women's Body Image. Di Michele D, Guizzo F, Canale N, Fasoli F, Carotta F, Pollini A, Cadinu M. Di Michele D, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 5;20(2):991. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20020991. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023. PMID: 36673746 Free PMC article.
  • #fitspiration: a comparison of the sport-related social media usage and its impact on body image in young adults. Klier K, Rommerskirchen T, Brixius K. Klier K, et al. BMC Psychol. 2022 Dec 27;10(1):320. doi: 10.1186/s40359-022-01027-9. BMC Psychol. 2022. PMID: 36575554 Free PMC article.
  • Retouched or Unaltered? That is the Question. Body Image and Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery in Young Female Instagram Users. Nerini A, Matera C, Romani F, Di Gesto C, Policardo GR. Nerini A, et al. Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2024 Mar;48(6):1229-1238. doi: 10.1007/s00266-022-03225-7. Epub 2022 Dec 19. Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2024. PMID: 36534131 Clinical Trial.
  • Relationship between Attention to Body Shape, Social Physique Anxiety, and Personal Characteristics of Brazilians: A Structural Equation Model. Silva WRD, Teixeira PA, Marôco J, Ferreira EB, Teodoro MA, Campos JADB. Silva WRD, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 10;19(22):14802. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192214802. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022. PMID: 36429522 Free PMC article.

Publication types

  • Search in MeSH

LinkOut - more resources

Full text sources.

  • Elsevier Science

Other Literature Sources

  • scite Smart Citations
  • Citation Manager

NCBI Literature Resources

MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer

The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The Impact of Social Media on Body Image Perceptions and Bodily Practices among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Critical Review of the Literature and Extension of Theory

  • Feminist Forum Review Article
  • Published: 05 July 2019
  • Volume 82 , pages 387–410, ( 2020 )

Cite this article

literature review on social media and body image

  • Eric Filice   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5743-7279 1 ,
  • Amanda Raffoul 1 ,
  • Samantha B. Meyer 1 &
  • Elena Neiterman 1  

8026 Accesses

17 Citations

8 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

Recent evidence indicates that interactive media-based web technologies, such as social networking sites, have an appreciable effect on users’ perceptions of and attitudes toward their own bodies, as well as resultant weight and shape control behaviours. However, little research has been done to investigate whether social media differentially influence gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, who are known to be at increased risk of body image disorders compared to their heterosexual counterparts. The current paper aims to address this gap by surveying and extending existing theory, using a critical review methodology, to derive a provisional theoretical model that explains how social media influence body image and weight and shape control behaviours of sexual minority men in particular. Our proposed model serves as an extension to the transactional model of social media and body image concerns, which includes additions to individual vulnerability factors (perceived self-discrepancy, gender nonconformity, minority stress) and psychosocial mediating processes (sexual objectification, sociocultural processes, online disinhibition). We conclude by identifying gaps in empirical evidence that would lend support to our proposed pathways as well as additional directions for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

literature review on social media and body image

Similar content being viewed by others

literature review on social media and body image

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

Viewing sexually explicit media and its association with mental health among gay and bisexual men across the u.s., using objectification theory to examine the effects of media on gay male body image.

Ahadzadeh, A. S., Sharif, S. P., & Ong, F. S. (2017). Self-schema and self-discrepancy mediate the influence of Instagram usage on body image satisfaction among youth. Computers in Human Behavior, 68 , 8–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.011 .

Article   Google Scholar  

Ali, M. M., Fang, H., & Rizzo, J. A. (2010). Body weight, self-perception and mental health outcomes among adolescents. The Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics, 13 (2), 53–63.

PubMed   Google Scholar  

Anderson, J. R., Holland, E., Koc, Y., & Haslam, N. (2018). Objectify: Self- and other-objectification on Grindr, a geosocial networking application designed for men who have sex with men. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48 (5), 600–613. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2350 .

Arkee, E. (2018). The problem with preferences. Retrieved May 7, 2019 from https://www.intomore.com/you/the-problem-with-preferences .

Augustus-Horvath, C. L., & Tylka, T. L. (2009). A test and extension of objectification theory as it predicts disordered eating: Does women’s age matter? Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56 (2), 253–265. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014637 .

Austin, A., Bernard, J., & Hutcheon, N. (2016). Media consumption forecasts 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2018 from content/uploads/2016/06/Media-Consumption-Forecasts-2016.pdf .

Austin, S. B., Nelson, L. A., Birkett, M. A., Calzo, J. P., & Everett, B. (2013). Eating disorder symptoms and obesity at the intersections of gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation in US high school students. American Journal of Public Health, 103 (2), e16–e22. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301150 .

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Badal, H. J., Stryker, J. E., DeLuca, N., & Purcell, D. W. (2018). Swipe right: Dating website and app use among men who have sex with men. AIDS and Behaviour, 22 (4), 1265–1272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1882-7 .

Bailey, J. M., & Zucker, K. J. (1995). Childhood sex-typed behavior and sexual orientation: A conceptual analysis and quantitative review. Developmental Psychology, 31 (1), 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.31.1.43 .

Baker, N. (2019). Meet the totally hot body positive guys on Instagram . Retrieved May 10, 2019 from https://www.thegayuk.com/meet-the-totally-hot-body-positive-guys-on-instagram/ .

Blashill, A. J. (2011). Gender roles, eating pathology, and body dissatisfaction in men: A meta-analysis. Body Image, 8 , 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2010.09.00 .

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Blashill, A. J., Goshe, B. M., Robbins, G. K., Mayer, K. H., & Safren, S. A. (2014). Body image disturbance and health behaviors among sexual minority men living with HIV. Health Psychology, 33 (7), 677–680. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000081 .

Blashill, A. J., & Safren, S. A. (2014). Sexual orientation and anabolic-androgenic steroids in U.S. adolescent boys. Pediatrics, 133 (3), 469–475. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-2768 .

Blond, A. (2008). Impacts of exposure to images of ideal bodies on male body dissatisfaction: A review. Body Image, 5 , 244–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2008.02.003 .

Bordo, S. (1993). Unbearable weight: Feminism, Western culture, and the body . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Google Scholar  

Boskind-White, M., & White, W. C. (1986). Bulimarexia: A historical-sociocultural perspective. In K. D. Brownell & J. P. Foreyst (Eds.), Handbook of eating disorders: Physiology, psychology, and treatment of obesity, anorexia, and bulimia (pp. 353–366). New York: Basic Books.

Bowleg, L. (2012). The problem with the phrase women and minorities: Intersectionality—An important theoretical framework for public health. American Journal of Public Health, 102 (7), 1267–1273. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300750 .

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble . New York: Routledge.

Callander, D., Holt, M., & Newman, C. E. (2016). “Not everyone’s gonna like me”: Accounting for race and racism in sex and dating web services for gay and bisexual men. Ethnicities, 16 (1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796815581428 .

Calogero, R. M. (2012). Objectification theory, self-objectification, and body image. In T. Cash (Ed.), Encyclopedia of body image and human appearance (Vol. 2, pp. 574–580). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Calzo, J. P., Blashill, A. J., Brown, T. A., & Argenal, R. L. (2017). Eating disorders and disordered weight and shape control behaviors in sexual minority populations. Current Psychiatry Reports, 19 (49), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-017-0801-y .

Calzo, J. P., Masyn, K. E., Corliss, H. L., Scherer, E. A., Field, A. E., & Austin, B. (2015). Patterns of body image concerns and disordered weight- and shape-related behaviors in heterosexual and sexual minority adolescent males. Developmental Psychology, 51 (9), 1216–1225. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000027 .

Calzo, J. P., Sonneville, K. R., Scherer, E. A., Jackson, B., & Austin, S. B. (2016). Gender conformity and use of laxatives and muscle-building products in adolescents and young adults. Pediatrics, 138 (2), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-4073 .

Carper, T. L. M., Negy, C., & Tantleff-Dunn, S. (2010). Relations among media influence, body image, eating concerns, and sexual orientation in men: A preliminary investigation. Body Image, 7 (4), 301–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2010.07.002 .

Carver, C. S., Lawrence, J. W., & Scheier, M. F. (1999). Self-discrepancies and affect: Incorporating the role of feared selves. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25 (7), 783–792. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167299025007002 .

Castellá, V. O., Abad, A. M. Z., Alonso, F. P., & Silla, J. M. P. (2000). The influence of familiarity among group members, group atmosphere and assertiveness on uninhibited behavior through three different communication media. Computers in Human Behavior, 16 (2), 141–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0747-5632(00)00012-1 .

Clark, D. (1977). Loving someone gay . Millbrae, CA: Celestial Arts.

Clayton, R. B., Ridgway, J. L., & Hendrickse, J. (2017). Is plus size equal? The positive impact of average and plus-sized media fashion models on women’s cognitive resource allocation, social comparisons, and body satisfaction. Communication Monographs, 84 (3), 406–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2017.1332770 .

Coates, S., & Person, E. S. (1985). Extreme boyhood femininity: Isolated behavior or pervasive disorder? Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24 (6), 702–709. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-7138(10)60113-6 .

Coe, K., Kenski, K., & Rains, S. A. (2014). Online and uncivil? Patterns and determinants of incivility in newspaper website comments. Journal of Communication, 64 (4), 658–679. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12104 .

Cohen, R., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A. (2018). ‘Selfie’-objectification: The role of selfies in self-objectification and disordered eating in young women. Computers in Human Behavior, 79 , 68–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.10.027 .

Collins, P. H. (2004). Black sexual politics: African Americans, gender, and the new racism . New York: Routledge.

Book   Google Scholar  

Collins, P. H., & Bilge, S. (2016). Intersectionality . Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Conner, M., Johnson, C., & Grogan, S. (2004). Gender, sexuality, body image and eating behaviours. Journal of Health Psychology, 9 (4), 505–515. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105304044034 .

Cooper, C. (2008). Fat studies: Mapping the field. Sociology Compass, 4 (12), 1020–1034. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00336.x .

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43 (6), 1241–1299.

Davids, C. M., Watson, L. B., Nilsson, J. E., & Marszalek, J. M. (2015). Body dissatisfaction among gay men: The roles of sexual objectification, gay community involvement, and psychological sense of community. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 2 (4), 376–385. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000127 .

Davis, J. A. (1966). The campus as a frog pond: An application of the theory of relative deprivation to career decisions of college men. American Journal of Sociology, 72 (1), 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1086/224257 .

Díaz, R. M., Ayala, G., Bein, E., Henne, J., & Marin, B. V. (2001). The impact of homophobia, poverty, and racism on the mental health of gay and bisexual Latino men: Findings from 3 US cities. American Journal of Public Health, 91 (6), 927–932.

Douglas, K. M., & McGarty, C. (2001). Identifiability and self-presentation: Computer-mediated communication and intergroup interaction. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40 (3), 399–416. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466601164894 .

Duggan, S. J., & McCreary, D. R. (2004). Body image, eating disorders, and the drive for muscularity in gay and heterosexual men: The influence of media images. Journal of Homosexuality, 47 (3–4), 45–58. https://doi.org/10.1300/J082v47n03_03 .

Duncan, D. T., Goedel, W. C., Stults, C. B., Brady, W. J., Brooks, F. A., Blakely, J. S., … Hagen, D. (2016). A study of intimate partner violence, substance abuse, and sexual risk behaviors among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in a sample of geosocial-networking smartphone application users. American Journal of Men’s Health, 12 (2), 292–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988316631964 .

Engeln-Maddox, R. (2005). Cognitive responses to idealized media images of women: The relationship of social comparison and critical processing to body image disturbance in college women. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24 (8), 1114–1138. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2005.24.8.1114 .

Engeln-Maddox, R., Miller, S. A., & Doyle, D. M. (2011). Tests of objectification theory in gay, lesbian, and heterosexual community samples: Mixed evidence for proposed pathways. Sex Roles, 65 , 518–532. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-9958-8 .

Evans, P. C., & McConnell, A. R. (2003). Do racial minorities respond in the same way to mainstream beauty standards? Social comparison processes in Asian, black, and white women. Self and Identity, 2 , 153–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298860390129908 .

Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women's body image concerns and mood. Body Image, 13 , 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.12.002 .

Fardouly, J., & Vartanian, L. R. (2015). Negative comparisons about one’s appearance mediate the relationship between Facebook usage and body image concerns. Body Image, 12 , 82–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.10.004 .

Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000). Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality . New York: Basic Books.

Feldman, J. (2019). How this LGBTQ advocate is using nudity to bring men into the body image conversation . Retrieved May 10, 2019 from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nude-body-positivity-gay-advocate_n_5c37952ce4b0c469d76c40f0?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJjoD-S_iYXdX_Pqt6Pr2F0EKvCGW_0lDjmisitBiwLOdFr0GJv-Ar0o9LGjV7dbuqt4mWCH5kKnABnGRivpBph6CLoWiPAK1Sbo-FNWYYYS_l8AU9rrhPY0StbbZtpNAsoPB1Y2A94B_wx6isOnHfxOXOuuKGuDkwmAqbjzpmjY .

Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7 (2), 117–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202 .

Frederick, D. A., Forbes, G. B., Grigorian, K. E., & Jarcho, J. M. (2007). The UCLA body project I: Gender and ethnic differences in self-objectification and body satisfaction among 2,206 undergraduates. Sex Roles, 57 (5–6), 317–327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9251-z .

Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. A. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21 , 173–206.

French, S. A., Story, M., Remafedi, G., Resnick, M. D., & Blum, R. W. (1994). Sexual orientation and prevalence of body dissatisfaction and eating disordered behaviors: A population-based study of adolescents. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 19 (2), 119–126. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1098-108X(199603)19:2<119::AID-EAT2>3.0.CO;2-Q .

Furnham, A., Badmin, N., & Sneade, I. (2002). Body image dissatisfaction: Gender differences in eating attitudes, self-esteem, and reasons for exercise. The Journal of Psychology, 136 (6), 581–596. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980209604820 .

Green, M. C., & Dill, K. E. (2013). Engaging with stories and characters: Learning, persuasion, and transportation into narrative worlds. In K. E. Dill (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of media psychology (pp. 449–461). New York: Oxford University Press.

Gibbons, F. X., & Gerrard, M. (1989). Effects of upward and downward social comparison on mood states. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 8 (1), 14–31. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.1989.8.1.14 .

Goedel, W. C., & Duncan, D. T. (2016). Contextual factors in geosocial-networking smartphone application use and engagement in condomless anal intercourse among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men who use Grindr. Sexual Health, 13 (6), 549–554. https://doi.org/10.1071/SH16008 .

Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134 (3), 460–476. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.460 .

Greenleaf, C. (2005). Self-objectification among physically active women. Sex Roles, 52 (1–2), 51–62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-1193-8 .

Griffiths, S., & Murray, S. B. (2015). Extending the masculinity hypothesis: An investigation of gender role conformity, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating in young heterosexual men. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 16 (1), 108–114. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035958 .

Griffiths, S., Murray, S. B., Krug, I., & McLean, S. A. (2018). The contribution of social media to body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms, and anabolic steroid use among sexual minority men. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 21 (3), 149–156. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2017.0375 .

Groesz, L. M., Levine, M. P., & Murnen, S. K. (2002). The effect of experimental presentation of thin media images on body satisfaction: A meta-analytic review. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 31 (1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.10005 .

Grossbard, J. R., Lee, C. M., Neighbors, C., & Larimer, M. E. (2008). Body image concerns and contingent self-esteem in male and female college students. Sex Roles, 60 (3–4), 198–207. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9535-y .

Grosskopf, N. A., LeVasseur, M. T., & Glaser, D. B. (2014). Use of the internet and mobile-based "apps" for sex-seeking among men who have sex with men in new York City. American Journal of Men’s Health, 8 (6), 510–520. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988314527311 .

Grov, C., Breslow, A. S., Newcomb, M. E., Rosenberger, J. G., & Bauermeister, J. A. (2014). Gay and bisexual men’s use of the internet: Research from the 1990’s through 2013. Journal of Sex Research, 51 (4), 390–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2013.871626 .

Gudelunas, D. (2012). There’s an app for that: The uses and gratifications of online social networks for gay men. Sexuality and Culture, 16 (4), 347–365. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-012-9127-4 .

Hargreaves, D., & Tiggemann, M. (2002). The effect of television commercials on mood and body dissatisfaction: The role of appearance-schema activation. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 21 (3), 287–308. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.21.3.287.22532 .

Hargreaves, D., & Tiggemann, M. (2003). The effect of “thin ideal” television commercials on body dissatisfaction and schema activation during early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 32 (5), 367–373. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024974015581 .

Hargreaves, D., & Tiggemann, M. (2009). Muscular ideal media images and men’s body image: Social comparison processing and individual vulnerability. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 10 (2), 109–119. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014691 .

Hatfield, E., & Sprecher, S. (1986). Mirror, mirror: The importance of looks in everyday life . New York: SUNY Press.

Hatzenbuehler, M. L., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Erickson, S. J. (2008). Minority stress predictors of HIV risk behavior, substance use, and depressive symptoms: Results from a prospective study of bereaved gay men. Health Psychology, 27 (4), 455–462.

Heatherton, T. F., & Baumeister, R. F. (1991). Binge eating as escape from self-awareness. Psychological Bulletin, 110 (1), 86–108. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.110.1.86 .

Hekma, G. (1994). ‘A female soul in a male body’: Sexual inversion as gender inversion in nineteenth-century sexology. In G. H. Herdt (Ed.), Third sex, third gender: Beyond sexual dimorphism in culture and history (pp. 213–239). New York: Zone Books.

Higgins, E. T. (1989). Self-discrepancy theory: What patterns of self-beliefs cause people to suffer? Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 22 , 93–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60306-8 .

Hill, M. S., & Fischer, A. R. (2008). Examining objectification theory: Lesbian and heterosexual women’s experiences with sexual- and self-objectification. The Counseling Psychologist, 36 (5), 745–776. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000007301669 .

Himmelstein, M. S., Puhl, R. M., & Quinn, D. M. (2017). Intersectionality: An understudied framework for addressing weight stigma. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 53 (4), 421–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2017.04.003 .

Holland, G., & Tiggemann, M. (2016). A systematic review of the impact of the use of social networking sites on body image and disordered eating outcomes. Body Image, 17 , 100–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.02.008 .

Hollenbaugh, E. E., & Everett, M. K. (2013). The effects of anonymity on self-disclosure in blogs: An application of the online disinhibition effect. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 18 , 283–302. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12008 .

Hospers, H. J., & Jansen, A. (2005). Why homosexuality is a risk factor for disordered eating in males. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24 (8), 1188–1201.

Hoyle, R. H., & Sherrill, M. R. (2006). Future orientation in the self-system: Possible selves, self-regulation, and behavior. Journal of Personality, 74 (6), 1673–1696. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00424.x .

Hudson, D. (2018). Grindr will stop profiles from stating ‘No fats, no fems, no Asians’. In Gay star news Retrieved May 7, 2019 from https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/grindr-profiles-no-fats-kindr/#gs.agdwyv .

Hummel, A. C., & Smith, A. R. (2014). Ask and you shall receive: Desire and receipt of feedback via Facebook predicts disordered eating concerns. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 48 , 436–442. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22336 .

Jackson, K. L., Janssen, I., Appelhans, B. M., Kazlauskaite, R., Karavolos, K., Dugan, S. A., … Kravitz, H. M. (2014). Body image satisfaction and depression in midlife women: The study of Women’s health across the nation (SWAN). Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 17 (3), 177–187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-014-0416-9 .

Jankowski, G. S., Diedrichs, P. C., & Halliwell, E. (2014). Can appearance conversations explain differences between gay and heterosexual men’s body dissatisfaction? Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 15 (1), 68–77. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031796 .

Jung, J., Lennon, S., & Rudd, N. (2001). Self-schema or self-discrepancy? Which best explains body image? Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 19 (4), 171–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887302X0101900403 .

Juvonen, J., & Gross, E. F. (2008). Extending the school grounds? –bullying experiences in cyberspace. Journal of School Health, 78 (9), 496–505. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2008.00335.x .

Kaminski, P. L., Chapman, B. P., Haynes, S. D., & Own, L. (2005). Body image, eating behaviors, and attitudestoward exercise among gay and straight men. Eating Behaviors, 6 (3), 179–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2004.11.003 .

Kim, J. W., & Chock, T. M. (2015). Body image 2.0: Associations between social grooming on Facebook and body image concerns. Computers in Human Behavior, 48 , 331–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.01.009 .

Kimmel, M. S. (1997). Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, shame, and silence in the construction of gender identity. In M. N. Gergen & S. N. Davis (Eds.), Toward a new psychology of gender (pp. 223–242). Florency, KY: Taylor and Francis/Routledge.

Kimmel, S. B., & Mahalik, J. R. (2005). Body image concerns of gay men: The roles of minority stress and conformity to masculine norms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73 (6), 1185–1190. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.73.6.1185 .

Kousari-Rad, P., & McLaren, S. (2013). The relationships between sense of belonging to the gay community, body image dissatisfaction, and self-esteem among Australian gay men. Journal of Homosexuality, 60 , 927–943. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2013.774866 .

Kozee, H. B., & Tylka, T. L. (2006). A test of objectification theory with lesbian women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30 (4) , 348–357. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2006.00310.x

Lakkis, J., Ricciardelli, L. A., & Williams, R. J. (1999). Role of sexual orientation and gender-related traits in disordered eating. Sex Roles, 41 (1–2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018829506907 .

Landovitz, R. J., Tseng, C. H., Weissman, M., Haymer, M., Mendenhall, B., Rogers, K., … Shoptaw, S. (2013). Epidemiology, sexual risk behavior, and HIV prevention practices of men who have sex with men using GRINDR in Los Angeles, California. Journal of Urban Health, 90 (4), 729–739. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9766-7 .

Lantz, E. L., Gaspar, M. E., DiTore, R., Piers, A. D., & Schaumberg, K. (2018). Conceptualizing body dissatisfaction in eating disorders within a self-discrepancy framework: A review of the evidence. Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 23 , 275–291. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0483-4 .

Lapidot-Lefler, N., & Barak, A. (2012). Effects of anonymity, invisibility, and lack of eye-contact on online disinhibition. Computers in Human Behavior, 28 (2), 434–443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.10.014 .

Lee, J., & Lee, Y. (2016). The association of body image distortion with weight control behaviors, diet behaviors, physical activity, sadness, and suicidal ideation among Korean high school students: A cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 16 (39), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-2703-z

Legenbauer, T., Vocks, S., Schäfer, C., Schütt-Strömel, S., Hiller, W., Wagner, C., & Vögele, C. (2009). Preference for attractiveness and thinness in a partner: Influence of internalization of the thin ideal and shape/weight dissatisfaction in heterosexual women, heterosexual men, lesbians, and gay men. Body Image, 6 (3), 228–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.04.002 .

Levine, M. P., & Murnen, S. K. (2009). “Everybody knows that mass media are/are not [pick one] a cause of eating disorders”: A critical review of evidence for a causal link between media, negative body image, and disordered eating in females. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28 (1), 9–42.

Levy, A. (2019). Facebook has a new ad load challenge . Retrieved May 15, 2019 from https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/02/03/facebook-has-a-new-ad-load-challenge.aspx .

Lewallen, J., & Behm-Morawitz, E. (2016). Pinterest or Thinterest? Social comparison and body image on social media. Social Media + Society . January–March, 2016 , 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116640559 .

Lin, L. Y., Sidani, J. E., Shensa, A., Radovic, A., Miller, E., Colditz, J. B., … Primack, B. A. (2016). Association between social media use and depression among U.S. young adults. Depression and Anxiety, 33 (4), 323–331. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22466 .

Lopes, C. (2018). The bottom diet: How to eat for anal sex. Retrieved May 15, 2019 from https://www.liveabout.com/the-bottom-diet-1411936 .

Mabe, A. G., Forney, K. J., & Keel, P. K. (2014). Do you “like” my photo? Facebook use maintains eating disorder risk. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47 (5), 516–523. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22254 .

Maille, N. (2019). Wait, should I eat this if I’m going to bottom later? Retrieved May 15, 2019 from https://hornet.com/stories/bottom-diet-bottoming/ .

Manago, A. M., Ward, L. M., Lemm, K. M., Reed, L., & Seabrook, R. (2015). Facebook involvement, objectified body consciousness, body shame, and sexual assertiveness in college women and men. Sex Roles, 72 (1–2), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0441-1 .

Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41 (9), 954–969. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.41.9.954 .

Martin, M. C., & Gentry, J. W. (1997). Stuck in the model trap: The effects of beautiful models in ads on female pre-adolescents and adolescents. The Journal of Advertising, 26 (2), 19–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1997.10673520 .

Martins, Y., Tiggeman, M., & Kirkbride, A. (2007). Those speedos become them: The role of self-objectification in gay and heterosexual men’s body image. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33 (5), 634–647. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206297403 .

Matthews-Ewald, M. R., Zullig, K. J., & Ward, R. M. (2014). Sexual orientation and disordered eating behaviors among self-identified male and female college students. Eating Behaviors, 15 (3), 441–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2014.05.002 .

Mays, V. M., & Cochran, S. D. (2001). Mental health correlates of perceived discrimination among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 91 (11), 1869–1876. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.91.11.1869 .

McArdle, K. A., & Hill, M. S. (2009). Understanding body dissatisfaction in gay and heterosexual men: The roles of self-esteem, media, and peer influence. Men and Masculinities, 11 (5), 511–532. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X0730372 .

McCall, L. (2005). The complexity of intersectionality. Signs, 30 (3), 1771–1800. https://doi.org/10.1086/426800 .

McKinley, N. M., & Hyde, J. S. (1996). The objectified body consciousness scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20 , 181–215.

Mehdizadeh, S. (2010). Self-presentation 2.0: Narcissism and self-esteem on Facebook. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 13 (4), 357–364. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2009.0257 .

Meier, E. P., & Gray, J. (2014). Facebook photo activity associated with body image disturbance in adolescent girls. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 17 (4), 199–206. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2013.0305 .

Meyer, I. H. (1995). Minority stress and mental health in gay men. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36 (1), 38–56.

Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129 (5), 674–697. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674 .

Millman, M. (1980). Such a pretty face: Being fat in America . New York: W.W. Norton.

Mingoia, J., Hutchinson, A. D., Wilson, C., & Gleaves, D. H. (2017). The relationship between social networking site use and the internalizations of a thin ideal in females: A meta-analytic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 7 (8), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01351 .

Mishkind, M. E., Rodin, J., Silberstein, L. R., & Striegel-Moore, R. H. (1986). The embodiment of masculinity: Cultural, psychological, and behavioral dimensions. American Behavioral Scientist, 29 (5), 545–562. https://doi.org/10.1177/000276486029005004 .

Moradi, B., Dirks, D., & Matteson, A. V. (2005). Roles of sexual objectification experiences and internalization of standards of beauty in eating disorder symptomatology: A test and extension of objectification theory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52 (3), 420–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.3.420 .

Morrison, M. A., Morrison, T. G., & Sager, C. (2004). Does body satisfaction differ between gay men and lesbian women and heterosexual men and women? A meta-analytic review. Body Image, 1 (2), 127–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2004.01.002 .

Moskowitz, D. A., & Hart, T. A. (2011). The influence of physical body traits and masculinity on anal sex roles in gay and bisexual men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40 (4), 835–841. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-011-9754-0 .

Murnen, S. K., & Smolak, L. (1997). Femininity, masculinity, and disordered eating: A meta-analytic review. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 22 (3), 231–242. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1098-108X(199711)22:3<231::AID-EAT2>3.0.CO;2-O .

Muth, J. L., & Cash, T. F. (1997). Body-image attitudes: What difference does gender make? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27 (16), 1438–1452. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb01607.x .

Myers, T. A., & Crowther, J. H. (2009). Social comparison as a predictor of body dissatisfaction: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118 (4), 683–698. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016763 .

Nash, J. C. (2008). Re-thinking intersectionality. Feminist Review, 89 , 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.2008.4 .

Noll, S. M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). A mediational model linking self-objectification, body shame, and disordered eating. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 22 (4), 623–636.

Nussbaum, M. C. (1995). Objectification. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 24 (4), 249–291.

Oehlhof, M. E. W., Musher-Eizenman, D. R., Neufeld, J. M., & Hauser, J. C. (2009). Self-objectification and ideal body shape for men and women. Body Image, 6 (4), 308–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.05.002 .

Perloff, R. M. (2009). Mass media, social perception, and the third-person effect. In J. Bryant & M. B. Oliver (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 252–268). New York: Routledge.

Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research. Sex Roles, 71 (11–12), 363–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0384-6 .

Peat, C. M., Peyerl, N. L., & Muehlenkamp, J. J. (2008). Body image and eating disorders in older adults: A review. The Journal of General Psychology, 135 (4), 343–358. https://doi.org/10.3200/GENP.135.4.343-358 .

Ricciardelli, L. A., McCabe, M. P., Williams, R. J., & Thompson, J. K. (2007). The role of ethnicity and culture in body image and disordered eating among males. Clinical Psychology Review, 27 (5), 582–606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2007.01.016 .

Richard, A., Rohrmann, S., Lohse, T., & Eichholzer, M. (2016). Is body weight dissatisfaction a predictor of depression independent of body mass index, sex and age? Results of a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 16 (1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3497-8 .

Richardson, L. (2018). Making Grindr kinder . Retrieved May 7, 2019 from https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/11/kindr-grindr-hookup-apps-discrimination.html .

Rieger, G., Linsenmeier, J. A. W., Gygax, L., & Bailey, J. M. (2008). Sexual orientation and childhood gender nonconformity: Evidence from home videos. Developmental Psychology, 44 (1), 46–58. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.1.46 .

Roberts, A. L., Rosario, M., Corliss, H. L., Koenen, K. C., & Austin, S. B. (2012). Childhood gender nonconformity: A risk indicator for childhood abuse and posttraumatic stress in youth. Pediatrics, 129 (3), 410–417. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-1804 .

Robinson, B. A. (2015). “Personal preference” as the new racism: Gay desire and racial cleansing in cyberspace. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1 (2), 317–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649214546870 .

Rosario, M., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., & Reid, H. (1996). Gay-related stress and its correlates among gay and bisexual male adolescents of predominantly black and Hispanic background. Journal of Community Psychology, 24 (2), 136–159. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6629(199604)24:2<136::AID-JCOP5>3.0.CO;2-X .

Rutledge, C. M., Gillmor, K. L., & Gillen, M. M. (2013). Does this profile picture make me look fat? Facebook and body image in college students. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 2 , 251–258. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000011 .

Sandfort, T. G. M., Melendez, R. M., & Diaz, R. M. (2007). Gender nonconformity, homophobia, and mental distress in Latino gay and bisexual men. The Journal of Sex Research, 44 (2), 181–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490701263819 .

Sastre, A. (2014). Toward a radical body positive: Reading the online “body positive movement”. Feminist Media Studies, 14 (6), 929–943. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2014.883420 .

Schaefer, L. M., & Thompson, K. L. (2018). Self-objectification and disordered eating: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 51 , 483–502. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22854 .

Seidenberg, A. B., Jo, C. L., Ribisl, K. M., Lee, J. G. L., Buchting, F. O., Kim, Y., … Emery, S. L. (2017). A national study of social media, television, radio, and internet usage of adults by sexual orientation and smoking status: Implications for campaign design. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14 (4), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14040450 .

Shannon, A., & Mills, J. S. (2015). Correlates, causes, and consequences of fat talk: A review. Body Image, 15 , 158–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.09.003 .

Siever, M. D. (1994). Sexual orientation and gender as factors in socioculturally acquired vulnerability to body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62 (2), 252–260. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.62.2.252 .

Signorile, M. (1997). Life outside: The Signorile report on gay men: Sex, drugs, muscles, and the passages of life . New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Smith, A., & Anderson, M. (2018). Social media use in 2018. In Pew research center Retrieved July 29, 2018 from http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2018/03/01105133/PI_2018.03.01_Social-Media_FINAL.pdf .

Smith, A., Hames, J., & Joiner, T. (2013). Status update: Maladaptive Facebook usage predicts increases in body dissatisfaction and bulimic symptoms. Journal of Affective Disorders, 149 , 235–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.01.032 .

Smith, J. G. (2017). Two-faced racism in gay online sex. In P. G. Nixon & I. K. Dusterhoft (Eds.), Sex in the digital age (pp. 134–146). New York: Routledge.

Solomon-Krakus, S., Sabiston, C. M., Brunet, J., Castonguay, A. L., Maximova, K., & Henderson, M. (2017). Body image self-discrepancy and depressive symptoms among early adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 60 (1), 38–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.08.024 .

Spears, R., Postmes, T., Lea, M., & Wolbert, A. (2002). When are net effects gross products? The power of influence and the influence of power in computer-mediated communication. Journal of Social Issues, 58 (1), 91–107. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4560.00250 .

Sreenivasan, U. (1985). Effeminate boys in a child psychiatric clinic: Prevalence and associated factors. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24 (6), 689–694. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-7138(10)60111-2 .

Stansfeld, S. A., Head, J., & Marmot, M. G. (1997). Explaining social class differences in depression and well-being. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 33 (1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s001270050014 .

Strahan, E. J., Wilson, A. E., Cressman, K. E., & Buote, V. M. (2006). Comparing to perfection: How cultural norms for appearance affect social comparisons and self-image. Body Image, 3 (3), 211–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2006.07.004 .

Strellan, P., & Hargreaves, D. (2005). Women who objectify other women: The vicious circle of objectification? Sex Roles, 52 (9,10), 707–712. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-3737-3 .

Strong, S. M., Singh, D., & Randall, P. K. (2000). Childhood gender nonconformity and body dissatisfaction in gay and heterosexual men. Sex Roles, 43 (7–8), 427–439.

Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 7 (3), 321–326. https://doi.org/10.1089/1094931041291295 .

Tesser, A. (1986). Some effects of self-evaluation maintenance on cognition and action. In R. M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (pp. 435–464). New York: Guilford.

Tiggemann, M., & Slater, A. (2014). NetTweens: The internet and body image concerns in preteenage girls. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 34 (5), 606–620. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431613501083 .

Udris, R. (2014). Cyberbullying among high school students in Japan: Development and validation of the online disinhibition scale. Computers in Human Behavior, 41 , 253–261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.09.036 .

Vandenbosch, L., & Eggermont, S. (2012). Understanding sexual objectification: A comprehensive approachtoward media exposure and girls’ internalization of beauty ideals, self-objectification, and body surveillance. Journal of Communication, 62 (5), 869–887. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01667.x .

Varnado-Sullivan, P. J., Horton, R., & Savoy, S. (2006). Differences for gender, weight, and exercise in body image disturbance and eating disorder symptoms. Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 11 (3), 118–125.

Vartanian, L.R. (2012). Self-discrepancy theory and body image. In T. F. Cash (Ed.), Encyclopedia of body image and human appearance Vol. 2, (pp. 711-717). https://doi.org/10.1016/C2010-1-66177-9

Vartanian, L. R., & Porter, A. M. (2016). Weight stigma and eating behavior: A review of the literature. Appetite, 102 , 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.01.034 .

Villarreal, D. (2019). 5 ways gay men can promote body positivity besides blocking Instagram “thirst traps.” Retrieved May 10, 2019 from https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/02/5-things-gay-men-need-beyond-blaming-instagram-thirst-traps-negative-body-image/ .

Waldo, C. R. (1999). Working in a majority context: A structural model of heterosexism as minority stress in the workplace. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46 (2), 218–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.46.2.218 .

Want, S. C. (2009). Meta-analytic moderators of experimental exposure to media portrayals of women on female appearance satisfaction: Social comparisons as automatic processes. Body Image, 6 (4), 257–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.07.008 .

Watson, R. J., Adjei, J., Saewyc, E., Homma, Y., & Goodenow, C. (2017). Trends and disparities in disordered eating among heterosexual and sexual minority adolescents. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 50 , 22–31. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22576 .

Watson, L. B., Grotewiel, M., Farrell, M., Marshik, J., & Schneider, M. (2015). Experiences of sexual objectification, minority stress, and disordered eating among sexual minority women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 39 (4), 458–470. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684315575024 .

Whitley, B. E. (1983). Sex role orientation and self-esteem: A critical meta-analytic review. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44 (4), 765–778. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.4.765 .

Williamson, I., & Hartley, P. (1998). British research into the increased vulnerability of young gay men to eating disturbance and body satisfaction. European Eating Disorders Review, 6 , 160–170. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0968(199809)6:3<160::AID-ERV252>3.0.CO;2-H .

Wills, T. A. (1981). Downward comparison principles in social psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 90 (2), 245–271. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.90.2.245 .

Wilson, S. R., & Benner, L. A. (1971). The effects of self-esteem and situation upon comparison choices during ability evaluation. Sociometry, 34 (3), 381–397. https://doi.org/10.2307/2786205 .

Wiseman, M. C., & Moradi, B. (2010). Body image and eating disorder symptoms in sexual minority men: A test and extension of sexual objectification theory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57 (2), 154–166. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018937 .

Wood, M. J. (2004). The gay male gaze: Body image disturbance and gender oppression among gay men. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 17 (2), 43–62. https://doi.org/10.1300/J041v17n02_03 .

Wood, J. V. (1989). Theory and research concerning social comparisons of personal attributes. Psychological Bulletin, 106 (2), 231–248.

Yelland, C., & Tiggemann, M. (2003). Muscularity and the gay ideal: Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in homosexual men. Eating Behaviors, 4 , 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1471-0153(03)00014-X .

Yuen, H. K., & Hanson, C. (2002). Body image and exercise in people with and without acquired mobility disability. Disability and Rehabilitation, 24 (6), 289–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638280110086477 .

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

Eric Filice, Amanda Raffoul, Samantha B. Meyer & Elena Neiterman

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Filice .

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest, additional information, publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Filice, E., Raffoul, A., Meyer, S.B. et al. The Impact of Social Media on Body Image Perceptions and Bodily Practices among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Critical Review of the Literature and Extension of Theory. Sex Roles 82 , 387–410 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01063-7

Download citation

Published : 05 July 2019

Issue Date : April 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01063-7

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

  • Social media
  • Find a journal
  • Publish with us
  • Track your research
  • Reference Manager
  • Simple TEXT file

People also looked at

Review article, #childhoodobesity – a brief literature review of the role of social media in body image shaping and eating patterns among children and adolescents.

literature review on social media and body image

  • 1 Department of Psychology, School of Health Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland
  • 2 Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
  • 3 Institute of Pedagogy, University of Bielsko-Biala, Bielsko-Biala, Poland
  • 4 Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Obesity and Metabolic Bone Diseases, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

Children’s food preferences are closely related to their parents’ food preferences and knowledge of food is linked to what their parents share with them. Parents, however, are not the only people who model such behavior. Paradoxically, the ubiquitous technological development can also pose a huge threat. In developed countries, 94% of teenagers use social media platforms such as: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, or TikTok, and this also applies to children. It can therefore be argued that parents’ nutritional preferences and behavior are related to the same behaviors of children and there is an extensive literature on this subject. It is therefore important to check how other factors – new technology (and social media in particular) – can influence changes in this area. A literature search was conducted in the following databases: Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCO in December 2021. After applying all the filters and verification of relevance in terms of the research on the topic of interest to us, 4 articles related to research on body image and social media and 4 articles related to research on food choices and social media among children and adolescents were obtained. The conducted analysis showed that various studies so far indicate that social media can have a very strong influence on the development of eating patterns and body image in children and adolescents, which in turn may be one of the risk factors for developing obesity when promoted behaviors are not associated with a healthy lifestyle. It is also worth pointing out that social media can be used as a resource in the prevention and treatment of obesity. A closer look at this topic seems to be particularly important due to the fact that, among adults, social media is not only a very important source of information about lifestyle, but also a source of social support when people attempting to lose weight. Therefore, by increasing preventive activity in social media and using modern solutions related to social media (including the use of hashtag signs), we can have a greater impact on the health awareness of children and adolescents around the world.

Introduction

Childhood is the most important period in which eating habits are formed, which undoubtedly influences later health condition ( 1 ). The result of the transmission of incorrect eating patterns is obesity, other metabolic diseases and eating disorders ( 2 – 4 ). As is commonly known, these disorders are more and more often diagnosed in children and adolescents, and the recent situation related to COVID (e.g., due to the frequent change of lifestyle to a less healthy one) was conducive to the development of excessive body weight in this age group (e.g., ( 5 – 11 ).

The first educator in the field of eating behavior is the family ( 12 ). Research shows that children’s food preferences are closely related to their parents’ food preferences. Also, children’s knowledge of food is linked to what their parents share with them ( 13 ). It is well known that children learn to eat through their own experience as well as through the observation of others ( 14 ). It can therefore be argued that parents’ nutritional preferences and behavior are related to the same behaviors of children and there is an extensive literature on this subject ( 15 – 17 ). As the knowledge about eating behaviors is quite extensive, so it is important to check how new technology (and social media in particular) can influence changes in this area.

Parents, however, are not the only people who model such behavior ( 18 ). Paradoxically, the ubiquitous technological development, which is supposed to be a convenience, can also pose a huge threat ( 19 ). In developed countries, 94% of teenagers use social media platforms such as: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, or TikTok ( 20 ), and this also applies to children ( 21 ). Many studies around the world indicate that children and adolescents use social media for up to several hours a day, an example of such research is an Iranian study in which almost 80% of children and adolescents use social media 3-4 h or more a day ( 19 ). Using these media, we often come across information on the subject of obesity, which can very quickly spread around the world, including by using a hashtag (#) for them appropriately ( 22 ). For example, when analyzing the titular #childhoodobesity, on the one hand, we come across (good quality) educational materials that raise people’s awareness of the prevention and treatment of obesity. On the other hand, there are also numerous posts that can be strongly stigmatizing. The latter very often relate to two areas of functioning – body image and eating patterns ( 19 ). As shown by the research carried out so far, eating patterns and body image can play a very important role in developing obesity (e.g., ( 10 , 23 , 24 ), and one of the theoretical models explaining this is the Homeostatic Theory of Obesity ( 25 ). This model has also been empirically verified in studies conducted in a group of Polish children and adolescents ( 26 ). However, it is worth continuing research in this area to check how important social media in childhood are in shaping body image and eating patterns, especially given that (in general) children’s and adolescents’ use of social media has a significant impact on their body mass index ( 19 ).

Most children and adolescents publish their photos on the above-mentioned portals, so-called “selfies” ( 27 ). Considering the sociocultural model ( 28 ), teenagers internalize the ideals of appearance that are conveyed by the media and make comparisons with them ( 29 , 30 ). According to the National Eating Disorders Association ( 31 ), body image is how an individual believes what they look like in the mirror, how they feel about their body, and how they feel in control about the body. This image can be positive or negative ( 31 ). The negative ones are an early indicator of an eating disorder. Regarding the shaping of one’s body image and exposure in social media, it is worth mentioning that social media promotes an unnaturally slim figure as desirable, often building a negative body image, and children and adolescents seem to be the most vulnerable group ( 31 ). This pattern often promotes stigma and strengthens the tendency of obese children to lose weight by means of maladaptive measures (e.g., very restrictive diets, use of laxatives, vomiting), which often lead to further weight gain in the long term ( 19 , 32 – 34 ). Thus, as research shows, social media and peer groups functioning in it can, on the one hand, be an important source of knowledge and support in preventing obesity and promoting healthy growth ( 19 , 35 , 36 ). On the other hand, they can be a source of great discomfort, spreading myths about obesity and its treatment ( 19 , 33 ). That is why it is so important to look carefully at how the content available on social media can influence the shaping of the body image and eating patterns of children and adolescents.

There is a strong international interest in research into eating behavior, the transmission of eating patterns through the family environment, and body image formation, but few studies in this context have analyzed the impact of social media ( 15 – 17 ). Importantly, not only selfies but also sharing pictures of meals with friends is also a popular phenomenon on social media ( 37 ). The reaction to such a photo is reacted on social media can also perpetuate and modify various eating and lifestyle behaviors. Therefore, this review of research aims to: (I) summarize the current research on the role of social media in the group of children and adolescents in (Ia) body image shaping, (Ib) shaping eating patterns, (II) indicating the essence of the problem and the direction of obesity preventive measures to public health institutions and other entities with a significant influence on the promotion of healthy eating behavior, mental health, and the proper use of social media, and (III) indicating further studies directions among obese children and adolescents in the context described above.

Materials and methods

A literature search was conducted in the following databases: Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCO from December 2021 to January 2022. The following keyword alone combinations were used: body image, body image and social media, food choices and social media, food choices, food choices and Facebook/TikTok/Instagram/Snapchat, body image and Facebook/TikTok/Instagram/

Snapchat. Filters in search engines were also used, such as: “Free full text,” ten-year articles, English and Polish, and the target research group “children and adolescents.”

After applying all the filters, 26 results related to the subject of body image in social media and 8 results related to food choices in social media were obtained. Then, all the results were verified in terms of the relevance of the research on the topic of interest to us. As a result, 4 articles related to research on body image and social media among children and adolescents and 4 articles related to research on food choices and social media among children and adolescents were obtained. A block diagram of this process is shown in Figure 1 . The “Supplementary Material” section provides more details about these studies (i.e., group description, variables and measures, results and detailed statistics for the measured variables; (Appendix Table 1 )).

www.frontiersin.org

Figure 1. Flow chart of article selection process.

www.frontiersin.org

Table 1. Characteristic of the analyzed studies.

Body image and social media

Self-body perceptions, especially among girls in recent decades, have become a cause of global adolescent self-esteem ( 38 ). The basis of adolescent self-presentation is increasingly based on photos and videos on social media ( 39 , 40 ). Social media can create appearance standards that are difficult to achieve ( 39 ), especially by adolescents and children. This situation can lead to lower self-esteem and emotional disturbances ( 41 ).

Previous research, for example, conducted in Norway on a group of 1998 respondents aged 10-14 (boys and girls), looked at which social media platforms they use, how often they post something on their account per month and how often they post photos of themselves and how often they comment on other people’s statuses and photos ( 41 ). Results indicate, among other things, that other-oriented social media use lowered self-reported appearance among respondents aged 10-12 and 12-14, while self-oriented use had no effect on this ( 41 ).

Another Dutch study, involved 440 teenagers of both genders aged 12 to 19 ( 29 ). The study was aimed at, inter alia , indicating whether the use of social media is a significant predictor of body dissatisfaction. The results showed that teens who reported more use of social media also reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction ( 29 ).

Interesting research in this area was also carried out in Singapore, where 100 female teenagers aged 13 to 18 were recruited from various local communities, such as the Chinese, Malayas, and Indians ( 42 ). Total smartphones use time, social media use, cognitive internalization, anxiety about social appearance, respect for the body, and position of weight control were assessed. The results suggest that only excessive use of social media, according to the authors, more than 3 h a day results in lower body evaluation results. Interestingly, the authors also explored the issue of engaging in online and offline appearance comparisons. They found that while social media escalates unhealthy cognitive patterns, it also does so outside of the time spent in these media, harming teenagers’ own body assessment, including a girl study ( 42 ).

A very different report is indicated by researchers from Denmark, who focused on the effects of social networking on body image among 604 adolescents (male and female) aged 11 to 18 ( 43 ). The study was related to the frequency of use of social media and information about the appearance that teenagers obtained from their peers and its impact on their body image. The results show that the more teens used social networking sites, the more often they received feedback about their appearance. Interestingly, the feedback received did not predict body dissatisfaction ( 43 ). This finding contradicts most studies about the association of social media with negative body image.

Eating patterns and social media

Visual representations of food and beverage products in traditional communications and digital marketing primarily involve products high in fat, sugar and salt ( 44 ). YouTube is also very popular with children aged 5 to 15 ( 45 ), and the information contained in the content viewed influences their eating behavior ( 44 ). Research shows that exposure to food-related information contained in social media content, known as influencers, directly, immediately influences the choice and consumption of promoted foods by 9–11-year-old children ( 46 , 47 ).

An equally interesting study on the marketing impact of a product promoted via the YouTube platform conducted in qualitative terms is a British study on a group of children (boys and girls) aged 10-11 years ( 48 ). The children watched a marketing video promoting the sweet product and were informed that the purpose of the study was to gather their views on YouTubers advertising food and drinks. The results of this study indicated that youtubers are a source of entertainment, information, social acceptance, and experiences for children, moreover, the products promoted by youtubers were desired by children ( 48 ).

The same authors also analyzed the channels of Youtubers popular among children to determine the scope and nature of the recommendations of food products and drinks ( 44 ). They also examined the proportion of “healthy” and “unhealthy” referrals. As it turned out, each of the commands had at least one food or drink tip, more often they were unhealthy than healthy. As many as 92.6% of the analyzed videos contained food and drink tips, which corresponds to 29.9 tips per hour ( 44 ).

A study by American researchers on a sample of 884 male and female adolescents aged 13-17 indicated that food ads posted on Instagram were very attractive to the respondents compared to traditional food ads ( 49 ). Interestingly, the Instagram symbol itself caused much more interest in the promoted product ( 49 ).

Various studies cited so far indicate that social media can have a very strong influence on the development of eating patterns and body image in children and adolescents, which in turn may be one of the risk factors for developing obesity when promoted behaviors are not associated with a healthy lifestyle.

Originally, the sociocultural model proposed by Thompson et al. ( 28 ) focused on traditional media, e.g., television, magazines, and the traditional “face-to-face” perception of the other person. Today, teenagers derive their ideal-looking messages from social media. According to the above-mentioned sociocultural model of comparison, the internalization of ideal appearance communicated through social media results in body dissatisfaction ( 50 ). This is supported by the analysis of the research presented in this article. In most studies on the impact of social media on body image, the target respondents are teenagers and adults and their results show a negative relationship between social media and body dissatisfaction (e.g., 43 , 50 – 52 ). Therefore, attention should be paid to the importance of the problem of social media in the context of incorrect body image. If the problem is large among adult users of social media platforms, the group of children and adolescents may be even more at risk ( 53 ). Unfortunately, there are few studies that can approximate to the magnitude of this problem among children, and thus allow for the design of prevention activities aimed at child caregivers that would help monitor online behavior and allow for the protection of children from negative self-perception.

Social media also contributes to the promotion of food products to users ( 54 ). Influencers, youtubers show specific food products, recommend their purchase, and they are not always healthy ( 55 ). These are sponsored advertisements paid for by large food concerns. Research to date provides sufficient evidence of the effectiveness of influencer marketing on consumption primarily among adolescents ( 56 ). What is important for such marketing activities is that about 98% of people from the “Z” generation, i.e., people born after 1995, have a smartphone, and moreover, half of teenagers spend 10 or more hours a day using the telephone ( 57 ). It is therefore a powerful tool to influence choices, including food preferences. The Norwegian Consumer Council in 2019 showed that about 20% of all influencer-related marketing activities were for food and drinks ( 58 ). So far, research on this subject is not sufficient, and as far as we are aware, such research has not been conducted on a Polish sample. The exposure of children and adolescents to the influence of people for whom the most important thing is to sell a not necessarily healthy product is underestimated. Influencers often choose the way they present themselves on the Internet ( 59 ), using products and brands for self-presentation rather than actual consumption ( 60 ). The cognitive development of younger children (12 years of age and younger) is still developing, and thus a critical understanding of the commercial world will not be the same as the critical thinking skills of adults ( 61 ), therefore the popularity of influencers and content that they post on their profiles is particularly attractive to young audiences. Given this information, it is important to ensure the protection and control of young people in the digital space, and it should also be crucial for preventive health. To effectively protect children and adolescents, an intervention in the use of social media must be developed, and to implement it, a better understanding of how the use of social networking sites affects body image and food choices should be developed. Taking these actions is also important due to such phenomena as “echo chamber” (this can be defined as personalizing the content used on the Internet and matching it to the profile of a specific user, which means that we only receive information on social media that has been determined by appropriate algorithms as consistent with our interests and views; ( 62 ) and “mukbang” (this can be defined as an online audiovisual broadcast through a video-streaming platforms such as TikTok or YouTube in which a host consumes different amounts and types of food and interacts with the audience using a multimodal communication; ( 63 ), which may have a significant impact on shaping the awareness, body image and eating patterns of children and adolescents.

Summarizing the current knowledge, in future studies related to childhood obesity we should focus on: (I) analysis of the impact on eating patterns and body image of content from TikTok/Instagram/Snapchat, (II) taking into account the interaction of parents with social media in shaping un(healthy) eating patterns and (positive and negative) body image in their children and adolescents, (III) taking into account the assessment of children’s mental health (e.g., depression, eating disorders), (IV) taking into account children under the age of 10, (V) research among Polish children and adolescents including the division into genders, (VI) doing more experimental research in this topic.

Finally, it is also worth pointing out that social media can be used as a resource in the prevention and treatment of obesity. A closer look at this topic seems to be particularly important due to the fact that, among adults, social media is not only a very important source of information about lifestyle, but also a source of social support when people attempting to lose weight (e.g., 64 , 65 ). Interestingly, this research shows that this online support is even greater than that they receive from their family and friends in the non-virtual world ( 64 ). Therefore, it would be interesting to check whether we recognize a similar effect in children and adolescents. Moreover, as is commonly known, many materials available on social media are not prepared on the basis of reliable and credible sources of information (e.g., 22 , 66 , 67 ). However, by increasing preventive activity in social media and using modern solutions related to social media (including the use of hashtag signs), we can have a greater impact on the health awareness of children and adolescents around the world, including fighting myths about obesity and patients who have been subject to stigmatization. Moreover, it seems clear that the topic of social media and their relationship with body image and eating patterns should be obligatorily addressed by psychologists and nutritionists during obesity therapy, thanks to which we can correct patients’ attitudes in this regard and increase knowledge and raise awareness among their caregivers.

Author contributions

AM, KC-B, and JM conceived the study and performed literature search. All authors were involved in writing the manuscript and had final approval of the submitted and published versions.

This publication was financed by the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

1. Birch L, Savage JS, Ventura A. Influences on the development of children’s eating behaviours: from infancy to adolescence. Can J Diet Pract Res. (2007) 68:s1–56.

Google Scholar

2. World Health Organization. Obesity and Overweight. (2021). Available online at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight (accessed July 13, 2022)

3. Simmonds M, Burch J, Llewellyn A, Griffiths C, Yang H, Owen C, et al. The use of measures of obesity in childhood for predicting obesity and the development of obesity-related diseases in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Technol Assess. (2015) 19:1–336. doi: 10.3310/hta19430

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

4. Llewellyn A, Simmonds M, Owen CG, Woolacott N. Childhood obesity as a predictor of morbidity in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev. (2016) 17:56–67. doi: 10.1111/obr.12316

5. Dattani S, Ritchie H, Roser M. Mental Health. Eating Disorders. (2021). Available online at: https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health (accessed July 13, 2022).

6. Ritchie H, Roser M. Obesity. (2017). Available online at: https://ourworldindata.org/obesity (accessed July 13, 2022).

7. Scapaticci S, Neri CR, Marseglia GL, Staiano A, Chiarelli F, Verduci E. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lifestyle behaviors in children and adolescents: an international overview. Ital J Pediatr. (2022) 48:22. doi: 10.1186/s13052-022-01211-y

8. Taquet M, Geddes JR, Luciano S, Harrison PJ. Incidence and outcomes of eating disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Br J Psychiatry. (2021) 220:1–3. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2021.105

9. World Health Organization. World Obesity Day 2022 – Accelerating Action to Stop Obesity. (2022). Available online at: https://www.who.int/news/item/04-03-2022-world-obesity-day-2022-accelerating-action-to-stop-obesity#:~:text=More%20than%201%20billion%20people,This%20number%20is%20still%20increasing (accessed July 13, 2022)

10. Valenzise M, D’Amico F, Cucinotta U, Lugarà C, Zirilli G, Zema A, et al. The lockdown effects on a pediatric obese population in the COVID-19 era. Ital J Pediatr. (2021) 47:209. doi: 10.1186/s13052-021-01142-0

11. Zipfel S, Schmidt U, Giel KE. The hidden burden of eating disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Psychiatry. (2022) 9:9–11. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00435-1

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

12. Savage JS, Fisher JO, Birch LL. Parental influence on eating behavior: conception to adolescence. J Law Med Ethics. (2007) 35:22–34. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-720X.2007.00111.x

13. Patrick H, Nicklas TA. A review of family and social determinants of children’s eating patterns and diet quality. J Am Coll Nutr. (2005) 24:83–92. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2005.10719448

14. Hayman LL. The Dietary Intervention Study in Children (DISC): progress and prospects for primary prevention. Prog Cardiovasc Nurs. (2003) 18:4–5. doi: 10.1111/j.0889-7204.2003.01781.x

15. Trevino SD, Kelly NR, Budd EL, Giuliani NR. Parent gender affects the influence of parent emotional eating and feeding practices on child emotional eating. Front Psychol. (2021) 12:654237. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.654237

16. Scaglioni S, De Cosmi V, Ciappolino V, Parazzini F, Brambilla P, Agostoni C. Factors influencing children’s eating behaviours. Nutrients. (2018) 10:706. doi: 10.3390/nu10060706

17. Yee AZ, Lwin MO, Ho SS. The influence of parental practices on child promotive and preventive food consumption behaviors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. (2017) 14:47. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0501-3

18. Kearney MS, Levine PB. Role models, mentors, and media influences. Fut Child. (2020) 30:83–106.

19. Khajeheian D, Colabi AM, Ahmad Kharman Shah NB, Bt Wan Mohamed Radzi CWJ, Jenatabadi HS. Effect of social media on child obesity: application of structural equation modeling with the taguchi method. Int J Environ Res Public Health. (2018) 15:1343. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15071343

20. Dilon C. Tiktok influences on teenagers and young adults students: the common usages of the application Tiktok. ASRJETS. (2020) 68:132–42.

21. Norc Center for Public Affairs Research. Instagram and Snapchat are Most Popular Social Networks for Teens; Black Teens are Most Active on Social Media, Messaging Apps. (2017). Available online at: https://policycommons.net/artifacts/2141928/instagram-and-snapchat-are-most-popular-social-networks-for-teens-black-teens-are-most-active-on-social-media/2897226/ on 13 Jul 2022 (accessed July 13, 2022).

22. Li C, Ademiluyi A, Ge Y, Park A. Using social media to understand web-based social factors concerning obesity: systematic review. JMIR Public Health Surveill. (2022) 8:e25552. doi: 10.2196/25552

23. Leppänen MH, Lehtimäki AV, Roos E, Viljakainen H. Body mass index, physical activity, and body image in adolescents. Children. (2022) 9:202. doi: 10.3390/children9020202

24. Zandian M, Bergh C, Ioakimidis I, Esfandiari M, Shield J, Lightman S, et al. Control of body weight by eating behavior in children. Front Pediatr. (2015) 3:89. doi: 10.3389/fped.2015.00089

25. Marks DF. Homeostatic theory of obesity. Health Psychol Open. (2015) 2:2055102915590692. doi: 10.1177/2055102915590692

26. Czepczor-Bernat K, Brytek-Matera A, Matusik P. The homeostatic theory of obesity: an empirical verification of the circle of discontent with an assessment of its relationship to restrained and uncontrolled eating among children and adolescents. Int J Environ Res Public Health. (2020) 17:6028. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17176028

27. McLean SA, Jarman HK, Rodgers RF. How do “selfies” impact adolescents’ well-being and body confidence? A narrative review. Psychol Res Behav Manag. (2019) 12:513–21. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S177834

28. Thompson JK, Heinberg LJ, Altabe M, Tantleff-Dunn S. Exacting Beauty: Theory Assessment and Treatment of Body Image Disturbance. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association (1999). doi: 10.1037/10312-000

29. de Vries DA, Vossen HGM, van der Kolk-van der Boom P. Social media and body dissatisfaction: investigating the attenuating role of positive parent-adolescent relationships. J Youth Adolesc. (2019) 48:527–36. doi: 10.1007/s10964-018-0956-9

30. Rodgers RF, Wertheim EH, Paxton SJ, Tylka TL, Harriger JA. #Bopo: enhancing body image through body positive social media- evidence to date and research directions. Body Image. (2022) 41:367–74. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.03.008

31. National Eating Disorders Association. What is Body Image?. (2016). Available online at: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/body-image-0 (accessed July 13, 2022)

32. Contreras RE, Schriever SC, Pfluger PT. Physiological and epigenetic features of yoyo dieting and weight control. Front Genet. (2019) 10:1015. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.01015

33. Clark O, Lee MM, Jingree ML, O’Dwyer E, Yue Y, Marrero A, et al. Weight stigma and social media: evidence and public health solutions. Front Nutr. (2021) 8:739056. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.739056

34. Di Germanio C, Di Francesco A, Bernier M, de Cabo R. Yo-Yo dieting is better than none. Obesity. (2018) 26:1673. doi: 10.1002/oby.22335

35. Gruver RS, Bishop-Gilyard CT, Lieberman A, Gerdes M, Virudachalam S, Suh AW, et al. A social media peer group intervention for mothers to prevent obesity and promote healthy growth from infancy: development and pilot trial. JMIR Res Protoc. (2016) 5:e159. doi: 10.2196/resprot.5276

36. Swindle TM, Ward WL, Whiteside-Mansell L. Facebook: the use of social media to engage parents in a preschool obesity prevention curriculum. J Nutr Educ Behav. (2018) 50:4–10. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2017.05.344

37. Zhu J, Jiang L, Dou W, Liang L. Post, eat, change: the effects of posting food photos on consumers’ dining experiences and brand evaluation. J Interac Mark. (2019) 46:101–12. doi: 10.1016/j.intmar.2018.10.002

38. Harter S. The Construction of the Self. In Developmental and Sociocultural Foundations. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Guilford Publications Inc (2012).

39. Chua THH, Chang L. (2016). Follow me and like my beautiful selfies: Singapore teenage girls’ engagement in self-presentation and peer comparison on social media. Comput Hum Behav. (2016) 55:190–7. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.09.011

40. Mascheroni G, Vincent J, Jimenez E. Girls are addicted to likes so they postsemi-naked selfies”: Peer mediation, normativity and the construction of identity online. Cyberpsychol J Psychos Res Cyberspace. (2015) 9:5. doi: 10.5817/CP2015-1-5

41. Steinsbekk S, Wichstrøm L, Stenseng F, Nesi J, Hygen BW, Skalická V. (2021). The impact of social media use on appearance self-esteem from childhood to adolescence – A 3-wave community study. Comput Hum Behav. (2021) 114:106528. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2020.106528

42. Yang H, Wang JJ, Tng GYQ, Yang S. Effects of social media and smartphone use on body esteem in female adolescents: testing a cognitive and affective model. Children. (2020) 7:148. doi: 10.3390/children7090148

43. de Vries DA, Peter J, de Graaf H, Nikken P. Adolescents’ social network site use, peer appearance-related feedback, and body dissatisfaction: testing a mediation model. J Youth Adolesc. (2016) 45:211–24. doi: 10.1007/s10964-015-0266-4de

44. Coates AE, Hardman CA, Halford JCG, Christiansen P, Boyland EJ. Food and beverage cues featured in youtube videos of social media influencers popular with children: an exploratory study. Front Psychol. (2019) 10:2142. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02142

45. OFCOM. Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report. London: Ofcom (2018).

46. Coates AE, Hardman CA, Halford JCG, Christiansen P, Boyland EJ. Social media influencer marketing and children’s food intake: a randomized trial. Pediatrics. (2019) 143:e20182554. doi: 10.1542/peds.2018-2554

47. Coates AE, Hardman CA, Halford JCG, Christiansen P, Boyland EJ. The effect of influencer marketing of food and a “protective” advertising disclosure on children’s food intake. Pediatr Obes. (2019) 14:e12540. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12540

48. Coates AE, Hardman CA, Halford JCG, Christiansen P, Boyland EJ. “It’s just addictive people that make addictive videos”: children’s understanding of and attitudes towards influencer marketing of food and beverages by youtube video bloggers. Int J Environ Res Public Health. (2020) 17:449. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17020449

49. Bragg M, Lutfeali S, Greene T, Osterman J, Dalton M. How food marketing on instagram shapes adolescents’ food preferences: online randomized trial. J Med Internet Res. (2021) 23:e28689. doi: 10.2196/28689

50. Tiggemann M, Miller J. The internet and adolescent girls’ weight satisfaction and drive for thinness. Sex Roles. (2010) 63:79–90. doi: 10.1007/s11199-010-9789-z

51. Rousseau A, Eggermont S, Frison E. The reciprocal and indirect relationships between passive Facebook use, comparison on Facebook, and adolescents’ body dissatisfaction. Comput Hum Behav. (2017) 73:336–44. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.03.056

52. Kleemans M, Daalmans S, Carbaat I, Anschütz D. Picture perfect: the direct effect of manipulated Instagram photos on body image in adolescent girls. Media Psychol. (2018) 21:93–110. doi: 10.1080/15213269.2016.1257392

53. Núñez-Gómez P, Larrañaga KP, Rangel C, Ortega-Mohedano F. Critical analysis of the risks in the use of the internet and social networks in childhood and adolescence. Front Psychol. (2021) 12:683384. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.683384

54. Simeone M, Scarpato D. Sustainable consumption: how does social media affect food choices? J Clean Prod. (2020) 277:124036. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124036

55. Packer J, Russell SJ, Siovolgyi G, McLaren K, Stansfield C, Viner RM, et al. The impact on dietary outcomes of celebrities and influencers in marketing unhealthy foods to children: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrients. (2022) 14:434. doi: 10.3390/nu14030434

56. Lou C, Kim HK. Fancying the new rich and famous? Explicating the roles of influencer content, credibility, and parental mediation in adolescents’ parasocial relationship, materialism, and purchase intentions. Front Psychol. (2019) 10:2567. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02567

57. Shout Out UK [SOUK]. Generation Z And Their Phones: Separating The Myths From The Facts. (2020). Available online at: https://www.shoutoutuk.org/2020/09/22/generation-z-andtheir-phones-separating-the-myths-from-the-facts/ (accessed august 18, 2022).

58. Norwegian Consumer Council. Young and Exposed to Unhealthy Food Marketing: Digital Food Marketing Using Influencers. (2019). Available online at: https://fil.forbrukerradet.no/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/young-and-exposed-to-unhealthy-marketing-digitalfood-marketing-using-influencers-report-february-2019.pdf (accessed July 13, 2022).

59. Blinka L, Smahel D. Fourteen is fourteen and a girl is a girl: validating the identity of adolescent bloggers. Cyberpsychol Behav. (2009) 12:735–9. doi: 10.1089/cpb.2009.0044

60. Boyd DM, Ellison NB. Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship. J Comput Commun. (2007) 13:210–30. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x

61. Story M, French S. Food advertising and marketing directed at children and adolescents in the US. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. (2004) 1:3. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-1-3

62. Cinelli M, De Francisci Morales G, Galeazzi A, Quattrociocchi W, Starnini M. The echo chamber effect on social media. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. (2021) 118:e2023301118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2023301118

63. Kim Y. Eating as a transgression: Multisensorial performativity in the carnal videos of mukbang (eating shows). Int J Cult Stud. (2021) 24:107–22. doi: 10.1177/1367877920903435

64. Hwang KO, Ottenbacher AJ, Green AP, Cannon-Diehl MR, Richardson O, Bernstam EV, et al. Social support in an Internet weight loss community. Int J Med Inform. (2010) 79:5–13. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2009.10.003

65. Erdem H, Sisik A. The reliability of bariatric surgery videos in youtube platform. Obes Surg. (2018) 28:712–6. doi: 10.1007/s11695-017-2911-3

66. Mejova Y. Information sources and needs in the obesity and diabetes Twitter discourse. Proceedings of the In DH’18: 2018 International Digital Health Conference, April 23–26. New York, NY: ACM (2018). p. 21–9.

67. Jane M, Hagger M, Foster J, Ho S, Kane R, Pal S. Effects of a weight management program delivered by social media on weight and metabolic syndrome risk factors in overweight and obese adults: a randomised controlled trial. PLoS One. (2017) 12:e0178326. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178326

68. Marsh HW. Self Description Questionnaire-I (SDQI): APA Psyctests. Campbelltown, NSW: University of Western Sydney (1990).

69. Harter S. Manual For The Self-Perception Profile For Adolescents. Denver, CO: University of Denver (1988).

70. Wichstrøm L. Harters self-perception profile for adolescents – reliability, validity, and evaluation of the question format. J Pers Assess. (1995) 65(1):100–16. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa6501_8

71. Probst M, Vandereycken W, Van Coppenolle H, Vanderlinden J. The body attitude test for patients with an eating disorder: psychometric characteristics of a new questionnaire. Eat Disord. (1995) 3(2):133–44. doi: 10.1080/10640269508249156

72. Frison E, Eggermont S. Exploring the relationships between different types of Facebook use, perceived online social support, and adolescents’ depressed mood. Soc Sci Comput Rev. (2016) 34:153–71. doi: 10.1177/0894439314567449

73. Buhrmester D, Furman W. The Network of Relationships Inventory: Relationship Qualities Version. Richardson, TX: University of Texas at Dallas (2008). doi: 10.13072/midss.387

74. Rosen L, Whaling K, Carrier L, Cheever N, Rokkum J. The media and technology usage and attitudes scale: an empirical investigation. Comput Hum Behav. (2013) 29:2501–11. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2013.06.006

75. Thompson JK, van den Berg P, Roehrig M, Guarda AS, Heinberg LJ. The sociocultural attitudes towards appearance scale-3 (SATAQ-3): development and validation. Int J Eat Disord. (2004) 35(3):293–304. doi: 10.1002/eat.10257

76. Schaefer LM, Thompson JK. The development and validation of the physical appearance comparison scale-revised (PACS-R). Eat Behav. (2014) 15(2):209–17. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2014.01.001

77. Hart TA, Flora DB, Palyo SA, Fresco DM, Holle C, Heimberg RG. Development and examination of the social appearance anxiety scale. Assessment. (2008) 15(1):48–59. doi: 10.1177/1073191107306673

78. Mendelson BK, Mendelson MJ, White DR. Body-esteem scale for adolescents and adults. J Pers Assess. (2001) 76(1):90–106. doi: 10.1207/S15327752JPA7601_6

79. Stotland S, Zuroff DCA. new measure of weight locus of control: the dieting beliefs scale. J Pers Assess. (1990) 54(1–2):191–203. doi: 10.1080/00223891.1990.9673986

80. Cash TF. The Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire Users’ Manual. (1994). Available online at: http://www.body-images.com/assessments/mbsrq.html (accessed July 13, 2022).

Keywords : childhood obesity, social media, body image, eating patterns, children, adolescents

Citation: Modrzejewska A, Czepczor-Bernat K, Modrzejewska J, Roszkowska A, Zembura M and Matusik P (2022) #childhoodobesity – A brief literature review of the role of social media in body image shaping and eating patterns among children and adolescents. Front. Pediatr. 10:993460. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.993460

Received: 13 July 2022; Accepted: 09 August 2022; Published: 29 August 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Modrzejewska, Czepczor-Bernat, Modrzejewska, Roszkowska, Zembura and Matusik. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Adriana Modrzejewska, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Childhood Obesity: Prevention, Management and New Insight in Pathophysiology

UTC Scholar

  • UTC Scholar Home
  • UTC Library

Preserving and Sharing UTC's Knowledge

Home > Journals, Magazines, and Newsletters > Modern Psychological Studies > Vol. 30 > No. 1 (2024)

Modern Psychological Studies

Body image and social media in college students.

Elaine M. Kozmiuk , Boise State University Follow Sawyer Ellis , Boise State University Follow Mary Pritchard , Boise State University Follow Heather Schoenherr (Mentor) , College of Western Idaho Follow

Dept. of Psychology

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

The current study assessed the relationship between social media appearance-related preoccupation (SMARP), body shame, body surveillance, and social physique anxiety (SPA). Data were collected from 1,049 participants, and a correlational analysis and a hierarchal regression were conducted. Significant relationships were found between body shame, body surveillance, SMARP, and SPA, supporting our hypotheses. Our results confirmed the relationship between SPA and SMARP, adding evidence to a mixed debate about the relationships between SPA and social media use. The researchers found that SPA moderated the relationship between body shame and SMARP. We can conclude that appearance anxieties and appearance-based social media use are related. The results of this study indicate that media literacy and literacy on appearance anxieties should be expanded.

social media appearance-related preoccupation; social physique anxiety; body shame; body surveillance

Document Type

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Recommended Citation

Kozmiuk, Elaine M.; Ellis, Sawyer; Pritchard, Mary; and Schoenherr, Heather (Mentor) (2024) "Body image and social media in college students," Modern Psychological Studies : Vol. 30: No. 1, Article 8. Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol30/iss1/8

Since June 10, 2024

Included in

Psychology Commons

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately, you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.

  • Journal Home
  • About This Journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Submit Article
  • Most Popular Papers
  • Receive Email Notices or RSS

Special Issues:

Advanced Search

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

  • Publications
  • Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

  • Advanced Search
  • Journal List
  • Front Pediatr

#childhoodobesity – A brief literature review of the role of social media in body image shaping and eating patterns among children and adolescents

Adriana modrzejewska.

1 Department of Psychology, School of Health Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland

Kamila Czepczor-Bernat

2 Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland

Justyna Modrzejewska

3 Institute of Pedagogy, University of Bielsko-Biala, Bielsko-Biala, Poland

Agnieszka Roszkowska

Marcela zembura.

4 Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Obesity and Metabolic Bone Diseases, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

Paweł Matusik

Children’s food preferences are closely related to their parents’ food preferences and knowledge of food is linked to what their parents share with them. Parents, however, are not the only people who model such behavior. Paradoxically, the ubiquitous technological development can also pose a huge threat. In developed countries, 94% of teenagers use social media platforms such as: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, or TikTok, and this also applies to children. It can therefore be argued that parents’ nutritional preferences and behavior are related to the same behaviors of children and there is an extensive literature on this subject. It is therefore important to check how other factors – new technology (and social media in particular) – can influence changes in this area. A literature search was conducted in the following databases: Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCO in December 2021. After applying all the filters and verification of relevance in terms of the research on the topic of interest to us, 4 articles related to research on body image and social media and 4 articles related to research on food choices and social media among children and adolescents were obtained. The conducted analysis showed that various studies so far indicate that social media can have a very strong influence on the development of eating patterns and body image in children and adolescents, which in turn may be one of the risk factors for developing obesity when promoted behaviors are not associated with a healthy lifestyle. It is also worth pointing out that social media can be used as a resource in the prevention and treatment of obesity. A closer look at this topic seems to be particularly important due to the fact that, among adults, social media is not only a very important source of information about lifestyle, but also a source of social support when people attempting to lose weight. Therefore, by increasing preventive activity in social media and using modern solutions related to social media (including the use of hashtag signs), we can have a greater impact on the health awareness of children and adolescents around the world.

Introduction

Childhood is the most important period in which eating habits are formed, which undoubtedly influences later health condition ( 1 ). The result of the transmission of incorrect eating patterns is obesity, other metabolic diseases and eating disorders ( 2 – 4 ). As is commonly known, these disorders are more and more often diagnosed in children and adolescents, and the recent situation related to COVID (e.g., due to the frequent change of lifestyle to a less healthy one) was conducive to the development of excessive body weight in this age group (e.g., ( 5 – 11 ).

The first educator in the field of eating behavior is the family ( 12 ). Research shows that children’s food preferences are closely related to their parents’ food preferences. Also, children’s knowledge of food is linked to what their parents share with them ( 13 ). It is well known that children learn to eat through their own experience as well as through the observation of others ( 14 ). It can therefore be argued that parents’ nutritional preferences and behavior are related to the same behaviors of children and there is an extensive literature on this subject ( 15 – 17 ). As the knowledge about eating behaviors is quite extensive, so it is important to check how new technology (and social media in particular) can influence changes in this area.

Parents, however, are not the only people who model such behavior ( 18 ). Paradoxically, the ubiquitous technological development, which is supposed to be a convenience, can also pose a huge threat ( 19 ). In developed countries, 94% of teenagers use social media platforms such as: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, or TikTok ( 20 ), and this also applies to children ( 21 ). Many studies around the world indicate that children and adolescents use social media for up to several hours a day, an example of such research is an Iranian study in which almost 80% of children and adolescents use social media 3-4 h or more a day ( 19 ). Using these media, we often come across information on the subject of obesity, which can very quickly spread around the world, including by using a hashtag (#) for them appropriately ( 22 ). For example, when analyzing the titular #childhoodobesity, on the one hand, we come across (good quality) educational materials that raise people’s awareness of the prevention and treatment of obesity. On the other hand, there are also numerous posts that can be strongly stigmatizing. The latter very often relate to two areas of functioning – body image and eating patterns ( 19 ). As shown by the research carried out so far, eating patterns and body image can play a very important role in developing obesity (e.g., ( 10 , 23 , 24 ), and one of the theoretical models explaining this is the Homeostatic Theory of Obesity ( 25 ). This model has also been empirically verified in studies conducted in a group of Polish children and adolescents ( 26 ). However, it is worth continuing research in this area to check how important social media in childhood are in shaping body image and eating patterns, especially given that (in general) children’s and adolescents’ use of social media has a significant impact on their body mass index ( 19 ).

Most children and adolescents publish their photos on the above-mentioned portals, so-called “selfies” ( 27 ). Considering the sociocultural model ( 28 ), teenagers internalize the ideals of appearance that are conveyed by the media and make comparisons with them ( 29 , 30 ). According to the National Eating Disorders Association ( 31 ), body image is how an individual believes what they look like in the mirror, how they feel about their body, and how they feel in control about the body. This image can be positive or negative ( 31 ). The negative ones are an early indicator of an eating disorder. Regarding the shaping of one’s body image and exposure in social media, it is worth mentioning that social media promotes an unnaturally slim figure as desirable, often building a negative body image, and children and adolescents seem to be the most vulnerable group ( 31 ). This pattern often promotes stigma and strengthens the tendency of obese children to lose weight by means of maladaptive measures (e.g., very restrictive diets, use of laxatives, vomiting), which often lead to further weight gain in the long term ( 19 , 32 – 34 ). Thus, as research shows, social media and peer groups functioning in it can, on the one hand, be an important source of knowledge and support in preventing obesity and promoting healthy growth ( 19 , 35 , 36 ). On the other hand, they can be a source of great discomfort, spreading myths about obesity and its treatment ( 19 , 33 ). That is why it is so important to look carefully at how the content available on social media can influence the shaping of the body image and eating patterns of children and adolescents.

There is a strong international interest in research into eating behavior, the transmission of eating patterns through the family environment, and body image formation, but few studies in this context have analyzed the impact of social media ( 15 – 17 ). Importantly, not only selfies but also sharing pictures of meals with friends is also a popular phenomenon on social media ( 37 ). The reaction to such a photo is reacted on social media can also perpetuate and modify various eating and lifestyle behaviors. Therefore, this review of research aims to: (I) summarize the current research on the role of social media in the group of children and adolescents in (Ia) body image shaping, (Ib) shaping eating patterns, (II) indicating the essence of the problem and the direction of obesity preventive measures to public health institutions and other entities with a significant influence on the promotion of healthy eating behavior, mental health, and the proper use of social media, and (III) indicating further studies directions among obese children and adolescents in the context described above.

Materials and methods

A literature search was conducted in the following databases: Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCO from December 2021 to January 2022. The following keyword alone combinations were used: body image, body image and social media, food choices and social media, food choices, food choices and Facebook/TikTok/Instagram/Snapchat, body image and Facebook/TikTok/Instagram/

Snapchat. Filters in search engines were also used, such as: “Free full text,” ten-year articles, English and Polish, and the target research group “children and adolescents.”

After applying all the filters, 26 results related to the subject of body image in social media and 8 results related to food choices in social media were obtained. Then, all the results were verified in terms of the relevance of the research on the topic of interest to us. As a result, 4 articles related to research on body image and social media among children and adolescents and 4 articles related to research on food choices and social media among children and adolescents were obtained. A block diagram of this process is shown in Figure 1 . The “Supplementary Material” section provides more details about these studies (i.e., group description, variables and measures, results and detailed statistics for the measured variables; (Appendix Table 1 )).

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is fped-10-993460-g001.jpg

Flow chart of article selection process.

Characteristic of the analyzed studies.

Authors (year)SampleVariables and measuresDescriptive statistics for variables and type of study
Steinsbekk et al. ( )10 years old:
= 702
= 10.51; = 0.17
12 years old:
= 668
= 12.49; = 0.15
14 years old:
= 628
= 14.33; = 0.59
Girls:
10 years old: 52.3%
12 years old: 51.9%
14 years old: 53.0%
Boys:
10 years old: 47.7%
12 years old: 48.1%
14 years old: 47.0%
Social media use
– report which social media platform use (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter) + characteristics of their use
– self-oriented social media use: (a) the number of times per month they post something of their own social media sites, (b) how often they post photographs (never/rarely/weekly/daily)
– other-oriented social media use: how often they commented on others” status updates and photographs, how often they “like”” others” statuses (6-point Likert scale)
Appearance self-esteem
10-years old:
(SDQ-I; Marsh, ( )
12- and 14-years old:
(SPPA-R; Harter ( ); Wichstrøm ( )
Cross-secional study
10 years old:
– ( = 10.33; = 26.15)
– ( = 4.37; = 3.06)

– ( = 4.11; = 0.10)
12 years old:
– ( = 17.95; = 30.60)
– ( = 6.38; = 2.54)

– ( = 3.39; = 0.53)
14 years old:
– ( = 15.02; = 30.19)
– ( = 8.20; = 3.10)

– ( = 3.06; = 0.69)
de Vires et al. ( ) = 440
= 14.86; = 1.79
Girls: = 205
Boys: = 232
12 years: 12%
13 years: 18.2%
14 years: 11.8%
15 years: 13.4%
16 years: 22.6%
17 years: 18.7%
18 years: 3.2%
19 years: 0.2%
Body dissatisfaction
(BAT), (Probst et al. ( )
Social media use
(MSFU), (Frison and Eggermont ( )
Relationship qualities
(NRI-RQV), (Buhrmester and Furman ( )
Cross-secional study
( = 2.81; = 1.43)
– ( = 3.92; = 1.41)
– = 3.40; = 0.64)
– = 3.72; = 0.63)
Yang et al. ( ) = 100 (female adolescents)
= 15.07; = 1.33
= 19.05; = 3.45
Overall smartphone screen time
(questions: time on smartphone per day: sending and receiving e-mails, sending and receiving text messages, browsing websites, watching TV shows, taking photos, online shopping, listening to music)
Daily frequency engaged in social networking sites
(Rosen et al. ( )
Cognitive internalization of thin ideals
(Thompson et al. ( )
Overall social comparison (online/offline)
(Schaefer and Thompson ( )
Social appearance anxiety
(Hart et al. ( )
Body esteem
(Mendelson et al. ( )
Internal control beliefs
(Stotland and Zuroff ( )
Cross-secional study
( = 4.10; = 1.41)
– ( = 3.44; = 1.67)
– ( = 1.14; = 1.48)
– ( = 3.34; = 1.60)
– ( = 3.17; = 1.52)
– ( = 1.70; = 1.34)
– ( = 0.91; = 1.27)
– ( = 3.21; = 1.58)
– ( = 1.17; = 1.41)
– ( = 3.70; = 1.44)
– ( = 3.10; = 1.08)
– ( = 5.74; = 2.20)
– ( = 3.37; = 0.98)
– ( = 2.95; = 0.64)
– ( = 3.33; = 0.34)
de Vires et al. ( ) = 604
= 14.7; = 1.7
= 20.04; = 3.54
BMI:
BMI under 30: 98.9%
BMI under 25: 91.4%
BMI under 20: 52.3%
BMI under 18: 30%
Frequency of social network site use
questions about how often did you visit… in the past 6 months?
Peer appearance-related feedback
questions about how often their friends ( ) give them tips how to get a more beautiful body ( ) criticize their appearance or clothes ( ) give them tips how to look sexy ( ) tell them it is important to look good
Body dissatisfaction
(Cash ( ) (Cash ( )
Cross-secional study
– ( = 2.4; = 1.5 – at time 1; = 2.6; = 1.4 – at time 2)
– ( = 0.53; = 0.57 -at time 1; = 0.59; = 0.60 - at time 2)
– ( = 1.46; = 0.65 - at time 1; = 1.54; = 0.65 - at time 2)
Coates et al. ( ) = 24
(six focus groups with children aged 10-11 years)
One focus group: ( = 4)
Children”s understanding and attitudes about marketing
(video “Nutella Breakfast Party””)

Qualiative research
Coates et al. ( )YouTube videos (the authors two influencers - female aged 29, male – aged 24; both with a healthy weight). Qualiative research
Analysis of YouTube video blogs of influencers popular with children and determination of the extent and nature of food and beverage cues featured.
Bragg et al. ( ) = 832
= 14.73; = 1.67
Male: = 426
Female: = 406
Instagram vs non-Instagram ads

How much do you like this image?

How artistic is this image?

How trendy is this image?

How delicious do you think this product is?

How likely are you to purchase this product in the next 4 weeks?
Cross-secional study
Instagram advertisementTraditional advertisement
Unlabeled advertisement condition/labeled advertisement condition
= 68.56; = 0.93/ = 67.43; = 1.04)
( = 68.58; = 0.93/ = 66.80; = 1.07)
( = 69.60; = 0.90/ = 68.16; = 1.02)
( = 66.80; = 0.94/ = 66.62; = 1.02)
- ( = 56.25; = 1.04/ = 56.03; = 1.38)
Unlabeled advertisement condition/labeled advertisement condition
- = 65.72; = 0.93/ = 67.11; = 1.04)
( = 66.86; = 0.93/ = 66.84; = 1.07)
( = 66.28; = 0.90/ = 66.92; = 1.02)
( = 65.66; = 0.94/ = 67.51; = 1.02)
- ( = 55.27; = 1.23/ = 56.30; = 1.38)

Body image and social media

Self-body perceptions, especially among girls in recent decades, have become a cause of global adolescent self-esteem ( 38 ). The basis of adolescent self-presentation is increasingly based on photos and videos on social media ( 39 , 40 ). Social media can create appearance standards that are difficult to achieve ( 39 ), especially by adolescents and children. This situation can lead to lower self-esteem and emotional disturbances ( 41 ).

Previous research, for example, conducted in Norway on a group of 1998 respondents aged 10-14 (boys and girls), looked at which social media platforms they use, how often they post something on their account per month and how often they post photos of themselves and how often they comment on other people’s statuses and photos ( 41 ). Results indicate, among other things, that other-oriented social media use lowered self-reported appearance among respondents aged 10-12 and 12-14, while self-oriented use had no effect on this ( 41 ).

Another Dutch study, involved 440 teenagers of both genders aged 12 to 19 ( 29 ). The study was aimed at, inter alia , indicating whether the use of social media is a significant predictor of body dissatisfaction. The results showed that teens who reported more use of social media also reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction ( 29 ).

Interesting research in this area was also carried out in Singapore, where 100 female teenagers aged 13 to 18 were recruited from various local communities, such as the Chinese, Malayas, and Indians ( 42 ). Total smartphones use time, social media use, cognitive internalization, anxiety about social appearance, respect for the body, and position of weight control were assessed. The results suggest that only excessive use of social media, according to the authors, more than 3 h a day results in lower body evaluation results. Interestingly, the authors also explored the issue of engaging in online and offline appearance comparisons. They found that while social media escalates unhealthy cognitive patterns, it also does so outside of the time spent in these media, harming teenagers’ own body assessment, including a girl study ( 42 ).

A very different report is indicated by researchers from Denmark, who focused on the effects of social networking on body image among 604 adolescents (male and female) aged 11 to 18 ( 43 ). The study was related to the frequency of use of social media and information about the appearance that teenagers obtained from their peers and its impact on their body image. The results show that the more teens used social networking sites, the more often they received feedback about their appearance. Interestingly, the feedback received did not predict body dissatisfaction ( 43 ). This finding contradicts most studies about the association of social media with negative body image.

Eating patterns and social media

Visual representations of food and beverage products in traditional communications and digital marketing primarily involve products high in fat, sugar and salt ( 44 ). YouTube is also very popular with children aged 5 to 15 ( 45 ), and the information contained in the content viewed influences their eating behavior ( 44 ). Research shows that exposure to food-related information contained in social media content, known as influencers, directly, immediately influences the choice and consumption of promoted foods by 9–11-year-old children ( 46 , 47 ).

An equally interesting study on the marketing impact of a product promoted via the YouTube platform conducted in qualitative terms is a British study on a group of children (boys and girls) aged 10-11 years ( 48 ). The children watched a marketing video promoting the sweet product and were informed that the purpose of the study was to gather their views on YouTubers advertising food and drinks. The results of this study indicated that youtubers are a source of entertainment, information, social acceptance, and experiences for children, moreover, the products promoted by youtubers were desired by children ( 48 ).

The same authors also analyzed the channels of Youtubers popular among children to determine the scope and nature of the recommendations of food products and drinks ( 44 ). They also examined the proportion of “healthy” and “unhealthy” referrals. As it turned out, each of the commands had at least one food or drink tip, more often they were unhealthy than healthy. As many as 92.6% of the analyzed videos contained food and drink tips, which corresponds to 29.9 tips per hour ( 44 ).

A study by American researchers on a sample of 884 male and female adolescents aged 13-17 indicated that food ads posted on Instagram were very attractive to the respondents compared to traditional food ads ( 49 ). Interestingly, the Instagram symbol itself caused much more interest in the promoted product ( 49 ).

Various studies cited so far indicate that social media can have a very strong influence on the development of eating patterns and body image in children and adolescents, which in turn may be one of the risk factors for developing obesity when promoted behaviors are not associated with a healthy lifestyle.

Originally, the sociocultural model proposed by Thompson et al. ( 28 ) focused on traditional media, e.g., television, magazines, and the traditional “face-to-face” perception of the other person. Today, teenagers derive their ideal-looking messages from social media. According to the above-mentioned sociocultural model of comparison, the internalization of ideal appearance communicated through social media results in body dissatisfaction ( 50 ). This is supported by the analysis of the research presented in this article. In most studies on the impact of social media on body image, the target respondents are teenagers and adults and their results show a negative relationship between social media and body dissatisfaction (e.g., 43 , 50 – 52 ). Therefore, attention should be paid to the importance of the problem of social media in the context of incorrect body image. If the problem is large among adult users of social media platforms, the group of children and adolescents may be even more at risk ( 53 ). Unfortunately, there are few studies that can approximate to the magnitude of this problem among children, and thus allow for the design of prevention activities aimed at child caregivers that would help monitor online behavior and allow for the protection of children from negative self-perception.

Social media also contributes to the promotion of food products to users ( 54 ). Influencers, youtubers show specific food products, recommend their purchase, and they are not always healthy ( 55 ). These are sponsored advertisements paid for by large food concerns. Research to date provides sufficient evidence of the effectiveness of influencer marketing on consumption primarily among adolescents ( 56 ). What is important for such marketing activities is that about 98% of people from the “Z” generation, i.e., people born after 1995, have a smartphone, and moreover, half of teenagers spend 10 or more hours a day using the telephone ( 57 ). It is therefore a powerful tool to influence choices, including food preferences. The Norwegian Consumer Council in 2019 showed that about 20% of all influencer-related marketing activities were for food and drinks ( 58 ). So far, research on this subject is not sufficient, and as far as we are aware, such research has not been conducted on a Polish sample. The exposure of children and adolescents to the influence of people for whom the most important thing is to sell a not necessarily healthy product is underestimated. Influencers often choose the way they present themselves on the Internet ( 59 ), using products and brands for self-presentation rather than actual consumption ( 60 ). The cognitive development of younger children (12 years of age and younger) is still developing, and thus a critical understanding of the commercial world will not be the same as the critical thinking skills of adults ( 61 ), therefore the popularity of influencers and content that they post on their profiles is particularly attractive to young audiences. Given this information, it is important to ensure the protection and control of young people in the digital space, and it should also be crucial for preventive health. To effectively protect children and adolescents, an intervention in the use of social media must be developed, and to implement it, a better understanding of how the use of social networking sites affects body image and food choices should be developed. Taking these actions is also important due to such phenomena as “echo chamber” (this can be defined as personalizing the content used on the Internet and matching it to the profile of a specific user, which means that we only receive information on social media that has been determined by appropriate algorithms as consistent with our interests and views; ( 62 ) and “mukbang” (this can be defined as an online audiovisual broadcast through a video-streaming platforms such as TikTok or YouTube in which a host consumes different amounts and types of food and interacts with the audience using a multimodal communication; ( 63 ), which may have a significant impact on shaping the awareness, body image and eating patterns of children and adolescents.

Summarizing the current knowledge, in future studies related to childhood obesity we should focus on: (I) analysis of the impact on eating patterns and body image of content from TikTok/Instagram/Snapchat, (II) taking into account the interaction of parents with social media in shaping un(healthy) eating patterns and (positive and negative) body image in their children and adolescents, (III) taking into account the assessment of children’s mental health (e.g., depression, eating disorders), (IV) taking into account children under the age of 10, (V) research among Polish children and adolescents including the division into genders, (VI) doing more experimental research in this topic.

Finally, it is also worth pointing out that social media can be used as a resource in the prevention and treatment of obesity. A closer look at this topic seems to be particularly important due to the fact that, among adults, social media is not only a very important source of information about lifestyle, but also a source of social support when people attempting to lose weight (e.g., 64 , 65 ). Interestingly, this research shows that this online support is even greater than that they receive from their family and friends in the non-virtual world ( 64 ). Therefore, it would be interesting to check whether we recognize a similar effect in children and adolescents. Moreover, as is commonly known, many materials available on social media are not prepared on the basis of reliable and credible sources of information (e.g., 22 , 66 , 67 ). However, by increasing preventive activity in social media and using modern solutions related to social media (including the use of hashtag signs), we can have a greater impact on the health awareness of children and adolescents around the world, including fighting myths about obesity and patients who have been subject to stigmatization. Moreover, it seems clear that the topic of social media and their relationship with body image and eating patterns should be obligatorily addressed by psychologists and nutritionists during obesity therapy, thanks to which we can correct patients’ attitudes in this regard and increase knowledge and raise awareness among their caregivers.

Author contributions

AM, KC-B, and JM conceived the study and performed literature search. All authors were involved in writing the manuscript and had final approval of the submitted and published versions.

This publication was financed by the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

UPitt Logo

  • open search

From the latest big breakthrough to the most influential and inspiring figures on campus to Pitt in the community, Pittwire is your official source for what’s happening now.

  • Health and Wellness
  • Technology and Science
  • Arts and Humanities
  • Community Impact
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Innovation and Research
  • Our City/Our Campus
  • Pitt Magazine
  • Features & Articles
  • Accolades & Honors
  • Ones to Watch
  • Announcements and Updates
  • Life at Pitt
  • Arts & Sciences
  • Computing & Information
  • Dental Medicine
  • Engineering
  • General Studies
  • Health & Rehabilitation
  • Honors College
  • Public & Intl Affairs
  • Public Health
  • Social Work
  • COVID-19 Response
  • Sustainability

Pitt Magazine Winter 2024 cover

Subscribe to Pitt Magazine

Pitt Magazine

Pitt researcher studies adolescent mental health, social media use and body image

Choukas-Bradley

Sophia Choukas-Bradley is submitting her first paper about adolescents and social media to a psychology journal. It’s 2014, the early days of online culture, before teens lived on likes and danced on TikTok, and before parents and experts worried too much about the consequences.

Perhaps it explains why Choukas-Bradley’s paper is so quickly rejected, and why the journal’s anonymous peer reviewers offer her such a chilly — and ultimately shortsighted — rebuke.

Why would we study things online when we already know what happens offline? This is just the same thing in a slightly different form.

“And now everyone laughs when I say that,” she says. “Because anyone who's a parent, and anyone who has been a teen during the years of modern social media, understands that this is fundamentally different.”

Choukas-Bradley, an assistant professor of psychology at Pitt, has spent over a decade studying interpersonal and sociocultural influences on adolescent mental health, with an emphasis on social media, body image and LGBTQ+ youth.

She’s coined terms that are now commonplace in the discipline, published nearly 80 papers and served on two American Psychological Association expert advisory panels to develop guidelines for adolescent social media use — the first of which influenced the 2023 Surgeon General’s report.

“I’m just really interested in how social media changes how we view ourselves,” she says.

It all began in middle school when Choukas-Bradley noticed how she and her friends turned from carefree kids to self-conscious teens, preoccupied with the way the world judged their bodies and behaviors. Years later, as a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, she observed how the ubiquity of smartphones and the always-on nature of social media turned up the volume on those already pulsing adolescent body image issues. She calls it “the perfect storm.”

Through her research at Pitt’s Teen and Young Adult (TAYA) lab , Choukas-Bradley has been able to show that teens’ constant worry about being judged by an online audience — known as appearance-related social media consciousness, or ASMC — not only magnifies body image concerns but can also manifest in disordered eating and depressive symptoms.

This phenomenon has become a focus of the TAYA lab, which Choukas-Bradley founded in 2017. Her team uses multiple methods — large-scale questionnaires, in-depth interviews and even eye-tracking devices that reveal what teens are looking at online (spoiler alert: they’re fixating on attractive images) — to better understand the dangers of social media and develop interventions to diminish its negative power.

Her research shows that disordered eating and depressive symptoms influenced by social media use are more pervasive among teens who identify as girls and LGBTQ+ youth and that simply warning teens of the danger isn’t enough.

Together with Brian Galla from Pitt’s School of Education, the Center for Digital Thriving at Harvard (where she serves as the clinical psychology lead) and Common Sense Media , Choukas-Bradley has created evolving intervention materials that show teens how big tech intentionally targets youth, manipulating images, information and — ultimately — their own views.

But Choukas-Bradley is quick to add that social media isn’t all bad. In fact, for most teens, it’s become a critically important part of interpersonal development. And, for many LGBTQ+ youth, particularly those who live in rural communities or who don’t have parental support, social media is a lifeline, providing connection and acceptance they may not receive in their physical communities.

Recently, Choukas-Bradley received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award , which will allow her to study 300 girls over 18 months using multiple research methods to better understand the breadth and depth of how teens experience their time online.

“I believe it's important not to figure out how we can get kids offline — I think social media is here to stay — but to figure out how to have the time spent online be more positive and values-aligned.”

American Psychological Association

Reference Examples

More than 100 reference examples and their corresponding in-text citations are presented in the seventh edition Publication Manual . Examples of the most common works that writers cite are provided on this page; additional examples are available in the Publication Manual .

To find the reference example you need, first select a category (e.g., periodicals) and then choose the appropriate type of work (e.g., journal article ) and follow the relevant example.

When selecting a category, use the webpages and websites category only when a work does not fit better within another category. For example, a report from a government website would use the reports category, whereas a page on a government website that is not a report or other work would use the webpages and websites category.

Also note that print and electronic references are largely the same. For example, to cite both print books and ebooks, use the books and reference works category and then choose the appropriate type of work (i.e., book ) and follow the relevant example (e.g., whole authored book ).

Examples on these pages illustrate the details of reference formats. We make every attempt to show examples that are in keeping with APA Style’s guiding principles of inclusivity and bias-free language. These examples are presented out of context only to demonstrate formatting issues (e.g., which elements to italicize, where punctuation is needed, placement of parentheses). References, including these examples, are not inherently endorsements for the ideas or content of the works themselves. An author may cite a work to support a statement or an idea, to critique that work, or for many other reasons. For more examples, see our sample papers .

Reference examples are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Chapter 10 and the Concise Guide Chapter 10

Related handouts

  • Common Reference Examples Guide (PDF, 147KB)
  • Reference Quick Guide (PDF, 225KB)

Textual Works

Textual works are covered in Sections 10.1–10.8 of the Publication Manual . The most common categories and examples are presented here. For the reviews of other works category, see Section 10.7.

  • Journal Article References
  • Magazine Article References
  • Newspaper Article References
  • Blog Post and Blog Comment References
  • UpToDate Article References
  • Book/Ebook References
  • Diagnostic Manual References
  • Children’s Book or Other Illustrated Book References
  • Classroom Course Pack Material References
  • Religious Work References
  • Chapter in an Edited Book/Ebook References
  • Dictionary Entry References
  • Wikipedia Entry References
  • Report by a Government Agency References
  • Report with Individual Authors References
  • Brochure References
  • Ethics Code References
  • Fact Sheet References
  • ISO Standard References
  • Press Release References
  • White Paper References
  • Conference Presentation References
  • Conference Proceeding References
  • Published Dissertation or Thesis References
  • Unpublished Dissertation or Thesis References
  • ERIC Database References
  • Preprint Article References

Data and Assessments

Data sets are covered in Section 10.9 of the Publication Manual . For the software and tests categories, see Sections 10.10 and 10.11.

  • Data Set References
  • Toolbox References

Audiovisual Media

Audiovisual media are covered in Sections 10.12–10.14 of the Publication Manual . The most common examples are presented together here. In the manual, these examples and more are separated into categories for audiovisual, audio, and visual media.

  • Artwork References
  • Clip Art or Stock Image References
  • Film and Television References
  • Musical Score References
  • Online Course or MOOC References
  • Podcast References
  • PowerPoint Slide or Lecture Note References
  • Radio Broadcast References
  • TED Talk References
  • Transcript of an Audiovisual Work References
  • YouTube Video References

Online Media

Online media are covered in Sections 10.15 and 10.16 of the Publication Manual . Please note that blog posts are part of the periodicals category.

  • Facebook References
  • Instagram References
  • LinkedIn References
  • Online Forum (e.g., Reddit) References
  • TikTok References
  • X References
  • Webpage on a Website References
  • Clinical Practice References
  • Open Educational Resource References
  • Whole Website References

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab

OWL logo

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The Online Writing Lab (the Purdue OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out-of-class instruction.

The On-Campus and Online versions of Purdue OWL assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue OWL serves the Purdue West Lafayette and Indianapolis campuses and coordinates with local literacy initiatives. The Purdue OWL offers global support through online reference materials and services.

Social Media

Facebook twitter.

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 9 Easy Steps [Free Template]

Creating your social media marketing strategy doesn’t need to be painful. Create an effective plan for your business in 9 simple steps.

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 9 Easy Steps (Free Template) | Hootsuite

A social media marketing strategy is a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve on social media. It guides your actions and lets you know whether you’re succeeding or failing.

The more specific your plan is, the more effective it will be. Keep it concise. Don’t make it so lofty and broad that it’s unattainable or impossible to measure.

In this post, we’ll walk you through a nine-step plan to create a winning social media strategy of your own. We’ve even got expert insights from Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing.

How to create a social media strategy:

Bonus: Get a free social media strategy template   to quickly and easily plan your own strategy. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your boss, teammates, and clients.

What is a social media marketing strategy?

A social media strategy is a document outlining your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you will track to measure your progress.

Your social media marketing strategy should also list all of your existing and planned social media accounts along with goals specific to each platform you’re active on. These goals should align with your business’s larger digital marketing strategy.

Finally, a good social media plan should define the roles and responsibilities within your team and outline your reporting cadence.

literature review on social media and body image

Create. Schedule. Publish. Engage. Measure. Win.

Creating your own social media marketing strategy (video guide)

No time to read the whole article? Let Amanda, Hootsuite’s own Senior Manager of Social Media Marketing, guide you through our free social media marketing strategy template in less than 10 minutes:

How to create a social media marketing strategy in 9 steps

Step 1. choose goals that align to business objectives, set s.m.a.r.t. goals.

The first step to creating a winning social media strategy is to establish clear objectives and goals. Without goals, you have no way to measure success and return on investment (ROI) .

Each of your social media marketing goals should be SMART : s pecific, m easurable, a ttainable, r elevant and t ime-bound.

Psst: Need help getting started? We’ve got social strategy guides for small businesses , financial services , government , higher education , healthcare , real estate , law firms , and non-profits .

Oh, and if you need examples of smart social media goals , we’ve got you covered there too.

track your social media goals in a social media strategy doc, like this one.

Once you’ve decided on your goals, track them in a social media strategy doc — grab our free template if you don’t have one already.

Track meaningful metrics

Vanity metrics like number of followers and likes are easy to track, but it’s hard to prove their real value. Instead, focus on things like engagement, click-through, and conversion rates.

For inspiration, take a look at these 19 essential social media metrics .

You may want to track different goals for different social media networks, or even different uses for each network.

For example, if you use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website, you would measure click-throughs. If Instagram is for brand awareness, you might track the number of Instagram Story views. And if you advertise on Facebook, cost-per-click (CPC) is a common success metric.

Social media goals should align with your overall marketing objectives. This makes it easier to show the value of your work and secure buy-in from your boss.

Screenshot of chart showing how social media goals should align to business objectives for an effective social media marketing strategy.

Start developing a successful social media marketing plan by writing down at least three goals for social media.

“ It’s easy to get overwhelmed by deciding what to post and which metrics to track, but you need to focus on what you want to get out of social media to begin with,” says Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing. “Don’t just start posting and tracking everything: match your goals to your business, and your metrics to your goals.”

Step 2. Learn everything you can about your audience

Get to know your fans, followers, and customers as real people with real wants and needs, and you will know how to target and engage them on social media.

When it comes to your ideal customer, you should know things like:

  • Average income
  • Typical job title or industry

Here’s a simple guide and template for creating audience/buyer personas .

Document important information about your target customers in your social media strategy doc

Don’t forget to document this information in your strategy doc!

Social media analytics can also provide a ton of valuable information about who your followers are, where they live, and how they interact with your brand on social media. These insights allow you to refine your strategy and better target your audience.

Jugnoo, an Uber-like service for auto-rickshaws in India, used Facebook Analytics to learn that 90% of their users who referred other customers were between 18- and 34-years-old, and 65% of that group was using Android. They used that information to target their ads, resulting in a 40% lower cost per referral.

Check out our guide to using social media analytics and the tools you need to track them .

Step 3. Get to know your competition

Odds are your competitors are already using social media, and that means you can learn from what they’re doing.

Conduct a competitive analysis

A competitive analysis allows you to understand who the competition is and what they’re doing well (and not so well). You’ll get a good sense of what’s expected in your industry, which will help you set social media targets of your own.

It will also help you spot opportunities and weaknesses you can document in your social strategy doc.

track essential information about your competitors in your social strategy doc

Maybe one of your competitors is dominant on Facebook, for example, but has put little effort into X (Twitter) or Instagram. You might want to focus on the social media platforms where your audience is underserved, rather than trying to win fans away from a dominant player.

Use social media listening

Social listening is another way to keep an eye on your competitors.

Do searches of the competition’s company name, account handles, and other relevant keywords on social media. Find out what they’re sharing and what other people are saying about them. If they’re using influencer marketing, how much engagement do those campaigns earn them?

Pro tip : Use Hootsuite Streams to monitor relevant keywords, hashtags and accounts in real-time.

Try Hootsuite for free. You can cancel anytime.

As you track, you may notice shifts in how your competitors and industry leaders are using social media. You may come across new, exciting trends. You might even spot specific social content or a campaign that really hits the mark—or totally bombs.

Use this kind of intel to optimize and inform your own social media marketing strategy.

Just don’t go overboard on the spy tactics, Amanda advises. “ Make sure you aren’t ALWAYS comparing yourself to the competition — it can be a distraction. I’d say checking in on a monthly basis is healthy. Otherwise, focus on your own strategy and results.”

Step 4. Do a social media audit

If you’re already using social media, take stock of your efforts so far. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What’s working, and what’s not?
  • Who is engaging with you?
  • What are your most valuable partnerships?
  • Which networks does your target audience use?
  • How does your social media presence compare to the competition?

Once you collect that information, you’ll be ready to start thinking about ways to improve.

We’ve created an easy-to-follow social media audit guide and template to walk you through each step of this process.

Screenshot of a social media audit spreadsheet for building an effective social media marketing strategy

Your audit should give you a clear picture of what purpose each of your social accounts serves. If the purpose of an account isn’t clear, think about whether it’s worth keeping.

To help you decide, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is my audience here?
  • If so, how are they using this platform?
  • Can I use this account to help achieve my goals?

Asking these tough questions will keep your social media strategy focused.

Look for impostor accounts

During the audit, you may discover fake accounts using your business name or the names of your products.

These imposters can be harmful to your brand—never mind that they’re capturing followers that should be yours.

You may want to get your accounts verified too to ensure your fans know they are dealing with the real you.

Here’s how to get verified on:

  • X (Twitter)

Step 5. Set up accounts and improve profiles

Decide which networks to use.

As you decide which social networks to use, you will also need to define your strategy for each.

Benefit Cosmetics’ social media manager, Angela Purcaro, told eMarketer : “For our makeup tutorials … we’re all about Snapchat and Instagram Stories. [X], on the other hand, is designated for customer service.”

Hootsuite’s own social team even designates different purposes for formats within networks. On Instagram, for example, they use the feed to post high-quality educational infographics and product announcements and Stories to cover live events or quick social media updates.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hootsuite 🦉 (@hootsuite)

Pro tip : Write out a mission statement for each network. A one-sentence declaration to keep you focused on a specific goal.

Example: “We will use X for customer support to keep email and call volumes down.”

Or: “We will use LinkedIn for promoting and sharing our company culture to help with recruitment and employee advocacy.”

One more: “We will use Instagram to highlight new products and repost quality content from influencers.”

If you can’t create a solid mission statement for a particular social media channel, you may want to ask yourself if it’s worth it.

Note : While larger businesses can and do tackle every platform, small businesses may not be able to — and that’s ok! Prioritize social platforms that will have the most impact on your business and make sure your marketing team has the resources to handle content for those networks. If you need help focusing your efforts, check out our 18-minute social media plan .

Set up your profiles

Once you’ve decided which networks to focus on, it’s time to create your profiles. Or improve existing ones so they align with your strategy.

  • Make sure you fill out all profile fields
  • Include keywords people would use to search for your business
  • Use consistent branding (logos, images, etc.) across networks so your profiles are easily recognizable

Pro tip : Use high-quality images that follow the recommended dimensions for each network. Check out our always-up-to-date social media image size cheat sheet for quick reference.

We’ve also got step-by-step guides for each network to walk you through the process:

  • Create a Facebook business page
  • Create an Instagram business account
  • Create a TikTok account
  • Create a X (Twitter) business account
  • Create a Snapchat account
  • Create a LinkedIn Company Page
  • Create a Pinterest business account
  • Create a YouTube channel

Don’t let this list overwhelm you. Remember, it’s better to use fewer channels well than to stretch yourself thin trying to maintain a presence on every network.

Optimize your profiles (and content) for search

Never heard of social SEO ? It’s time to learn.

44% of Gen Z consumers use social platforms to research their purchase decisions, which means it’s extra critical that your channels are optimized for social search.

That means making sure your profile names are clear and descriptive, you’re including relevant hashtags and keywords in your bio and on every post, and you’re using features like alt text and captions to include your target keywords as naturally as possible.

Step 6. Find inspiration

While it’s important that your brand be unique, you can still draw inspiration from other businesses that are great on social.

“ I consider it my job to stay active on social: to know what’s trending, which campaigns are winning, what’s new with the platforms, who’s going above and beyond,” says Amanda. “This might be the most fun step for you, or the hardest one, but it’s just as crucial as the rest of them.”

Social media success stories

You can usually find these on the business section of the social network’s website. ( Here’s Facebook’s , for example.)

Case studies can offer valuable insights that you can apply to your own social media plan.

Award-winning accounts and campaigns

You could also check out the winners of The Facebook Awards or The Shorty Awards for examples of brands that are at the top of their social media game.

For learning and a laugh, check out Fridge-Worthy, Hootsuite’s bi-weekly awards show highlighting brands doing smart and clever things on social media.

Your favorite brands on social media

Who do you enjoy following on social media? What do they do that compels people to engage and share their content?

National Geographic, for example, is one of the best on Instagram, combining stunning visuals with compelling captions.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo)

Then there’s Shopify. The ecommerce brand uses Facebook to sell themselves by showcasing customer stories and case studies.

And Lush Cosmetics is a great example of superior customer service on X. They use their 280 characters to answer questions and solve problems in an extremely charming and on-brand way.

literature review on social media and body image

Source: lushcosmetics on X

Notice that each of these accounts has a consistent voice, tone, and style. That’s key to letting people know what to expect from your feed. That is, why should they follow you? What’s in it for them?

Consistency also helps keep your content on-brand even if you have multiple people on your social media team.

For more on this, read our guide on establishing a compelling brand voice on social media .

Ask your followers

Consumers can also offer social media inspiration.

What are your target customers talking about online? What can you learn about their wants and needs?

If you have existing social channels, you could also ask your followers what they want from you. Just make sure that you follow through and deliver what they ask for.

Step 7. Create a social media content calendar

Sharing great content is essential, of course, but it’s equally important to have a plan in place for when you’ll share content to get the maximum impact.

Your social media content calendar also needs to account for the time you spend interacting with the audience (although you need to allow for some spontaneous engagement as well).

Set your posting schedule

Your social media content calendar lists the dates and times at which you will publish types of content on each channel. It’s the perfect place to plan all of your social media activities—from images, link sharing, and re-shares of user-generated content to blog posts and videos. It includes both your day-to-day posting and content for social media campaigns.

Your calendar also ensures your posts are spaced out appropriately and published at the best times to post .

Pro tip: You can plan your whole content calendar and get recommended best times to post on every network based on your past engagement rate, impressions, or link click data in Hootsuite.

literature review on social media and body image

Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature

Determine the right content mix

Make sure your content strategy and calendar reflect the mission statement you’ve assigned to each social profile, so that everything you post is working to support your business goals.

(We know, it’s tempting to jump on every meme, but there should always be a strategy behind your social media marketing efforts!)

You might decide that:

  • 50% of content will drive traffic back to your website
  • 25% of content will be curated from other sources
  • 20% of content will support lead-generation goals (newsletter sign-ups, ebook downloads, etc.)
  • 5% of content will be about your company culture

Placing these different post types in your content calendar will ensure you maintain the right mix.

If you’re starting from scratch and you’re not sure what types of content to post, try the 80-20 rule :

  • 80% of your posts should inform, educate, or entertain your audience
  • 20% can directly promote your brand.

The 80-20 rule of social media publishing

You could also try the social media content marketing rule of thirds :

  • One-third of your content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates profit.
  • One-third of your content shares ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like-minded businesses.
  • One-third of your content is personal interactions with your audience

The social media marketing rule of thirds

Whatever you decide on, be sure to document it in your strategy doc.

document your content pillars in your strategy doc

Don’t post too much or too little

If you’re starting a social media marketing strategy from scratch, you may not have figured out how often to post to each network for maximum engagement yet.

Post too frequently and you risk annoying your audience. But, if you post too little, you risk looking like you’re not worth following.

Start with these posting frequency recommendations:

  • Instagram (feed): 3-7 times per week
  • TikTok: 3-5 times per week
  • Facebook: 1-2 times per day
  • X (Twitter): 1-5 times per day
  • LinkedIn: 1-5 times per day

How often to publish on social media by each platform

Pro tip : Once you have your social media content calendar planned out, use a scheduling tool to prepare messages in advance rather than updating constantly throughout the day.

We might be biased, but we think Hootsuite is the best social media management tool. You can schedule social media posts to every network and the intuitive calendar view gives you a full picture of all your social activity each week.

Try It Free

Step 8. Create compelling content

Remember those mission statements you created for each channel in Step 5? Well, it’s time to go a bit deeper, a.k.a. provide some examples of the type of content you’ll post to fulfill your mission on each network.

If you’re not sure what to post, here’s a long list of social media content ideas to get you started. Or (to make it even easier) you can use an AI tool like OwlyWriter to generate on-brand content in a flash.

The idea here is to:

  • Keep your content aligned with the purpose of each network;
  • Show other stakeholders (if applicable) what kind of content they can expect to see on each network.

This last point especially will help you avoid any tension when your colleagues want to know why you haven’t posted their case study/whitepaper/blog post to TikTok yet. It’s not in the strategy, Linda!

Ideally, you will generate content types that are both suited to the network and the purpose you’ve set out for that network.

For example, you wouldn’t want to waste time posting brand awareness tweets if you’ve designated X/Twitter for primarily customer support. And you wouldn’t want to post super polished corporate video ads to TikTok, as users expect to see short, unpolished videos on that platform.

It might take some testing over time to figure out which type of content works best on which type of network, so prepare to update this section frequently.

We won’t lie: content creation isn’t as easy as everyone not on the social team seems to think. But if you’re struggling, Amanda suggests going back to basics.

The first question to ask is: is there cohesion between your content types? Is your content providing value? Do you have a good mix of entertaining, or educational content? What does it offer that makes a person stop and spend time? Creating a few different content pillars or categories that encompass different aspects of storytelling for your brand, and what you can offer your audience is a good start.

This brings us to Step 9.

Step 9. Track performance and make adjustments

Your social media marketing strategy is a hugely important document for your business, and you can’t assume you’ll get it exactly right on the first try.

As you start to implement your plan and track your results, you may find that some strategies don’t work as well as you’d anticipated, while others are working even better than expected.

That’s why it’s important to document your progress along the way.

literature review on social media and body image

Look at performance metrics

In addition to the analytics within each social network (see Step 2), you can use UTM parameters to track social visitors as they move through your website, so you can see exactly which social posts drive the most traffic to your website.

Benchmark your results

You’ve got your numbers, but how do they stack up to the competition in your industry? Industry benchmarks are a great way to evaluate your performance against other businesses in your category.

If you’ve got Hootsuite Analytics , you can use our built-in social media benchmarking tool to compare the performance of your social accounts against the average of brands in your industry with just a couple of clicks.

You can set up custom timeframes, switch between networks — Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok — and look up benchmarks for metrics like followers, audience growth rate, engagement rate, clicks, shares, and much more.

You’ll also find resources to improve your performance  right in the summary section:

Industry benchmarking in Hootsuite Analytics: Performance summary with dedicated resources for improvement

Re-evaluate, test, and do it all again

Once this data starts coming in, use it to re-evaluate your strategy regularly. You can also use this information to test different posts, social marketing campaigns, and strategies against one another. Constant testing allows you to understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can refine your social media marketing strategy in real time.

You’ll want to check the performance of all your channels at least once a week and get to know the basics of social media reporting so you can track your growth over time.

Pro tip: If you use Hootsuite, you can review the performance of all your posts on every network in one place. Once you get the hang of checking your analytics, you may even want to customize different reports to show specific metrics over a variety of different time periods.

Surveys can also be a great way to find out how well your social media strategy is working. Ask your followers, email list, and website visitors whether you’re meeting their needs and expectations, and what they’d like to see more of. Then make sure to deliver on what they tell you.

Finalizing your social media strategy

Spoiler alert: nothing is final.

Social media moves fast. New networks emerge, others go through demographic shifts.

Your business will go through periods of change as well.

All of this means that your social media marketing strategy should be a living document that you review and adjust as needed. Refer to it often to stay on track, but don’t be afraid to make changes so that it better reflects new goals, tools, or plans.

When you update your social strategy, make sure to watch our 5-step video on how to updating your social media strategy for 2024:

Social media strategy template

Ready to start documenting? Grab your free social media strategy template below!

the cover page of Hootsuite's social media strategy template

What’s next? When you’re ready to put your plan into action, we’re here to help…

Save time managing your social media marketing strategy with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can easily:

  • Plan, create, and schedule posts to every network
  • Track relevant keywords, topics, and accounts
  • Stay on top of engagement with a universal inbox
  • Get easy-to-understand performance reports and improve your strategy as needed

Try Hootsuite for Free

With files from Shannon Tien .

Do it better with Hootsuite , the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.

Become a better social marketer.

Get expert social media advice delivered straight to your inbox.

Christina Newberry is an award-winning writer and editor whose greatest passions include food, travel, urban gardening, and the Oxford comma—not necessarily in that order.

Amanda Wood is a senior social marketing professional who combines analytical and creative thinking to build brands.

As head of social at Hootsuite, Amanda oversees the global social strategy encompassing organic and paid social on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn, a social engagement and listening strategy, and an employee advocacy program.

As the leader of a high-performing social team, she has extensive experience collaborating with creatives to bring campaigns to life on social and drive business results.

Related Articles

cover image

How To Set and Exceed Social Media Goals [9 Examples]

Struggling to structure your efforts on social? Set yourself up for success with our guide to setting and exceeding smart social media goals.

cover image

How To Run the Easiest Social Media Audit [FREE TEMPLATES]

A social media audit is the best way to review and improve any social marketing strategy. Our free checklist and template make it easy.

cover image

How to Create a Social Media Calendar and Stay Organized

Social media content calendars are the best way to plan and organize your content. Build one in 4 easy steps or use our free templates.

cover image

Social Media Marketing Tools: The Complete Guide

Automate your work, save time, and build better relationships with your audience by using the right social media marketing tools.

COMMENTS

  1. Social Media Use and Body Image Disorders: Association between Frequency of Comparing One's Own Physical Appearance to That of People Being Followed on Social Media and Body Dissatisfaction and Drive for Thinness

    The inclusion criteria were as follows: using their Facebook and/or Instagram account daily and being 15 to 35 years old. This age range was chosen in light of the current literature, which shows that use of social media and body image concerns involved mainly teenagers and young people [28,29]. Moreover, participants recruited via a health ...

  2. (PDF) The Effects of Social Media on Body Image ...

    The prevalence of social media use in modern society has led to increased imagery viewing, which can impact female body image satisfaction levels and subsequent eating disordered. behavior. Social ...

  3. Review Social media and body image: Recent trends and future directions

    The widespread and daily use of picture-based social media platforms by young people has many ramifications. Considerable research has now investigated the uses and effects of such social media in the realm of body image, where body image refers to a person's perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about the way they look [1].Reviews summarizing this research have uniformly concluded that social ...

  4. Social media and body image

    An extensive body of research has documented detrimental effects on women's body image from exposure to idealized images displayed in traditional media formats such as fashion magazines and television, especially for women with already high levels of body concern (for meta-analyses, see Ferguson, 2013; Grabe et al., 2008; Groesz et al., 2002; Want, 2009).

  5. Social media and body image: Recent trends and future directions

    This review presents recent trends in social media and body image research, with a particular focus on different social media platforms, features unique to social media, and potentially positive content for body image. First, it was found that visual platforms (e.g. Instagram) were more dysfunctional for body image than more textual platforms ...

  6. The association between social media use and body dysmorphic symptoms

    The effects of active social media engagement with peers on body image in young women. Body image, 28, 1-5. [Google Scholar] Holland G., Tiggemann M. (2016). A systematic review of the impact of the use of social networking sites on body image and disordered eating outcomes.

  7. [Investigating the relationship between social media use and body image

    Objectives: This study aimed to update the scientific knowledge concerning the relationship between the use of social networking sites and body image among adolescents. Methods: A preregistered systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines and allowed to include 30 peer-reviewed articles for qualitative analysis, consisting of 26 unique samples (n=31,331; M age =14.89; SD age =1.07).

  8. Review Social media and body image: Recent trends and future directions

    Review of negative and positive aspects of social media use for body image. •. Instagram and Snapchat relate more strongly to a negative body image than Facebook. •. Taking and editing selfies are more harmful than posting selfies. •. Fitspiration content has negative effects, just like thin-ideal content. •.

  9. #Take idealized bodies out of the picture: A scoping review of social

    This study aimed to conduct a scoping review of the emerging evidence focused on social media content that might support positive body image. A total of n = 35 studies (21 experimental) examining social media were identified along with n = 11 studies not specifically focusing on social media but with clear implications.

  10. Direct and indirect relationships between social media use and body

    According to sociocultural theories of body image, specifically the tripartite influence model, three primary sociocultural influences contribute to the development of body image concerns: media, peers, and parents/family (Keery et al., 2004; Thompson et al., 1999), with media the focus of the present study.In the model, relationships between sociocultural influences and body image are ...

  11. The Impact of Social Media on Body Image Perceptions and ...

    A growing body of literature suggests that interactive media-based web technologies, such as social networking sites, have a measurable impact on users' perceptions of and attitudes toward their own bodies, as well as resultant weight and shape control behaviours (Holland and Tiggemann 2016; Mingoia et al. 2017).Thus far, however, most research has focused on girls and young, heterosexual ...

  12. Social media and body image: Modulating effects of social identities

    In relation to body image and social media, ... As noted above, this does not intend to be a comprehensive review of the literature in lower income settings focusing on social media and body image, but rather to provide some illustrations of such emerging work. Nevertheless, together this research suggests that many of the processes and effects ...

  13. Impact of social media on self-esteem and body image ...

    This study employs a rapid literature review to elucidate the psychological implications of social media usage among young adults with regard to their body image and self-esteem.

  14. Social media, body image and food choices in healthy young adults: A

    Participants were asked how dress and social media practices affect their body image. Social media provides a platform for self‐objectification, body surveillance and to receive immediate appearance assessments. ... The findings from this review of observational literature are consistent with experimental studies exploring image‐related ...

  15. Instagram and body image: Motivation to conform to the "Instabod" and

    2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Body image. Body image is defined as "the mental picture of one's body, an attitude about the physical self, appearance and state of health" (Fobair et al., ... Studies on body image and social media can be divided into two categories: (a) studies which use content analysis to investigate the type of pictures posted ...

  16. Effect of Body Image on Self Esteem: A Systematic Literature Review and

    body image is an important factor in a person's mental health and well-being. Self-esteem is t he subjective assessment of one's own competence, worth, and value as a person. It is. based on a ...

  17. The impact of thin-ideal internalization, appearance comparison, social

    This literature review aims to examine the negative and positive aspects of social media use, on body image, eating disorders (ED), and explore the possible mechanisms driving these relationships. The method of this review focuses on the qualitative interpretation and synthesis of the knowledge state of the knowledge in the literature selected for a defined topic.

  18. Social Media Use and its Impact on Body Image: The Effects of Body

    Deanna R. Puglia: Social Media Use and Its Impact on Body Image: The Effects of Body Comparison Tendency, Motivation for Social Media Use, and Social Media Platform on Body Esteem in Young Women (Under the direction of Seth M. Noar) The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of social media use on body esteem in young women.

  19. The Effects of Social Media on Body Image a Thesis

    (Stanborough, 2020). This study aims to observe and assess the effects of social media use in relation to negative body image and suggest methods to increase body positivity and acceptance across social media users. Literature Review Social media use among adults in the United States has significantly increased

  20. #childhoodobesity

    Results Body image and social media. Self-body perceptions, especially among girls in recent decades, have become a cause of global adolescent self-esteem ().The basis of adolescent self-presentation is increasingly based on photos and videos on social media (39, 40).Social media can create appearance standards that are difficult to achieve (), especially by adolescents and children.

  21. "BODY IMAGE AND SOCIAL MEDIA" by Elaine M. Kozmiuk, Sawyer Ellis et al

    The current study assessed the relationship between social media appearance-related preoccupation (SMARP), body shame, body surveillance, and social physique anxiety (SPA). Data were collected from 1,049 participants, and a correlational analysis and a hierarchal regression were conducted. Significant relationships were found between body shame, body surveillance, SMARP, and SPA, supporting ...

  22. Body image: A scoping review of the literature

    A total of 23 articles met inclusion criteria for review. Findings reveal a concentration of conceptual articles compared with empirical studies and a predominance of a psychodynamic lens. Limitations in sample populations and study designs supporting the evidence base for body image in the social work literature were also evident.

  23. PDF Thesis Examining the Influence of Social Media on Body Image

    The media, including social media and blogs may be a catalyst for triggering body image issues such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and eating disorders (Phillips, 2005, p. 178). Body Dysmorphic Disorder, BDD will be explained later. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, even the smallest amount of

  24. #childhoodobesity

    In most studies on the impact of social media on body image, the target respondents are teenagers and adults and their results show a negative relationship between social media and body dissatisfaction (e.g., 43, 50-52). Therefore, attention should be paid to the importance of the problem of social media in the context of incorrect body image.

  25. Pitt researcher studies adolescent mental health, social media use and

    A decade of research on social media and youth has earned Sophia Choukas-Bradley a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Photo by Tom Altany. ... with an emphasis on social media, body image and LGBTQ+ youth. She's coined terms that are now commonplace in the discipline, published nearly 80 papers and served on two American Psychological ...

  26. Reference examples

    More than 100 reference examples and their corresponding in-text citations are presented in the seventh edition Publication Manual.Examples of the most common works that writers cite are provided on this page; additional examples are available in the Publication Manual.. To find the reference example you need, first select a category (e.g., periodicals) and then choose the appropriate type of ...

  27. Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab

    The Online Writing Lab (the Purdue OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service at Purdue.

  28. How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy [Template]

    Creating your social media marketing strategy doesn't need to be painful. Create an effective plan for your business in 9 simple steps. ... Check out our always-up-to-date social media image size cheat sheet for quick reference. ... A social media audit is the best way to review and improve any social marketing strategy. Check in on your ...