The Medium is the Message: Social Media and Body Dissatisfaction Public

Abstract

Social media platforms have quickly become a pervasive part of today’s cultural landscape. Given the sizable body of empirical work exploring the negative influence of mass media on body image, as well as the prevalence of body concerns facing the female population, it is important to examine how these new, more immersive and interactive platforms might influence women’s attitudes toward their bodies. The present study examined whether social media platforms negatively influence body satisfaction in the same way as mass media, along with the role that social media image exposure might play in moderating the effects of individual differences in thin-ideal internalization, body comparison, and body consciousness. A sample of 131 undergraduate women participated in the study, which consisted of a series of questionnaires related to social media habits and preferences, body dissatisfaction, and other psychological measures related to body concerns. Contrary to predictions, image exposure via social media was not directly associated with body dissatisfaction. However, image exposure did moderate the significant relationships between the individual characteristics of thin-ideal internalization, body comparison, and body consciousness and the outcome of body dissatisfaction, as predicted. Results suggest that these associations are more pronounced when women encounter more social media imagery; thus, the exposure-dissatisfaction link may be more nuanced than previously found within mass media research. More work is needed to better understand the impact of social media exposure on women’s psychological health.

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1

            Drive for Thinness, Body Dissatisfaction, and the Role of Mass Media….…………........1

            Individual Differences……….………………..……………..………………....................4

            Social Media……………………….…………………….…………………..…………....8

            Current Study…………………..………………….………………………………...…...10

            Hypotheses……………………………………………………………………………….11

Method……………………………………………………………………………………….......12

            Participants...………………………………………………………………………….….12

            Measures of Key Variables………...…………………………………………..…….......13

            Procedure……………………………………………………………………….………..15

Results……………………………………………………………………………………………15

            Descriptive Statistics……………………………………………………………………..15

Tests of Main Hypotheses………………………………………………………………..16

Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………..18

            Strengths………………..………………………………………………....……….….....22

            Limitations……………………………………………………………………………….22

Implications and Future Directions……………………..………………………………..24

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….26

References………………………………………………………………………………………..28

Tables…………………………………………………………………………………………….35

Figures……………………………………………………………………………………………38

Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………….42

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Cognition and Development
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Social Psychology, Behavioral Psychology, General
Mot-clé	Body Dissatisfaction Body Image Thin-Ideal Internalization Mass Media Social Media Body Consciousness Body Satisfaction Body Comparison
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Barber, Jessica, Emory University
Committee Members	Craighead, Linda, Emory University Dowd, Timothy, Emory University

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