YouTube, Social Media, and Website Exposure on Body Dissatisfaction: A correlational survey study
Submission Type
Event
Faculty Advisor
Marie Nebel-Schwalm
Expected Graduation Date
2020
Location
Center for Natural Sciences
Start Date
4-4-2020 2:00 PM
End Date
4-4-2020 3:00 PM
Disciplines
Education | Psychiatry and Psychology
Abstract
Mass media has become inseparable from daily life, especially among adolescents (Twenge et al., 2018). Unfortunately, media frequently convey unrealistic images of male and female bodies (Pope et al., 2001) which can lead to body dissatisfaction (Grabe et al., 2008; Hargreaves et al., 2009). Body dissatisfaction is also associated with low self-esteem, depressed mood, and disordered eating (Thompson et al., 1999). Thus, with increasing media exposure, people may be more susceptible to these negative outcomes (Derenne et al., 2018).
Research on the link between media and body dissatisfaction is either limited to single sites such as Facebook (Stronge et al., 2015) and Instagram (Brown et al., 2016), or general internet use that does not distinguish types of sites (Canan et al., 2014). General internet use is not typically predictive of body image concerns; thus, it is important to consider the extent to which media are appearance-focused.
The present study gathered data on media use among 214 undergraduate students. Data on specific websites, Youtube channels, and social media apps were categorized based on their appearance-focus. We hypothesized that exposure to appearance-focused media predicts body dissatisfaction (Mingoia et al., 2017; Rodgers et al., 2016). Results and implications for future research are discussed.
YouTube, Social Media, and Website Exposure on Body Dissatisfaction: A correlational survey study
Center for Natural Sciences
Mass media has become inseparable from daily life, especially among adolescents (Twenge et al., 2018). Unfortunately, media frequently convey unrealistic images of male and female bodies (Pope et al., 2001) which can lead to body dissatisfaction (Grabe et al., 2008; Hargreaves et al., 2009). Body dissatisfaction is also associated with low self-esteem, depressed mood, and disordered eating (Thompson et al., 1999). Thus, with increasing media exposure, people may be more susceptible to these negative outcomes (Derenne et al., 2018).
Research on the link between media and body dissatisfaction is either limited to single sites such as Facebook (Stronge et al., 2015) and Instagram (Brown et al., 2016), or general internet use that does not distinguish types of sites (Canan et al., 2014). General internet use is not typically predictive of body image concerns; thus, it is important to consider the extent to which media are appearance-focused.
The present study gathered data on media use among 214 undergraduate students. Data on specific websites, Youtube channels, and social media apps were categorized based on their appearance-focus. We hypothesized that exposure to appearance-focused media predicts body dissatisfaction (Mingoia et al., 2017; Rodgers et al., 2016). Results and implications for future research are discussed.