Social Media and Self-Objectification: Examining the Implications for Adolescents' Body Image and Mental Health

• In Event: 3-155 - Social Media Use and Adolescent Adjustment: Considering Quality Over Quantity

Integrative Statement

Social media use may affect adolescents’ body image and mental health in ways that are not yet fully understood. These sites allow the possibility that at any moment, an adolescent’s photograph could be broadcast to a large audience of peers and remain permanently accessible (Nesi, Choukas-Bradley, & Prinstein, 2018). Social media sites tend to emphasize physical appearance and encourage body-related social comparison (Fardouly, Pinkus, & Vartanian, 2017). It is possible that these features of social media may increase adolescents’ self-objectification, i.e., internalizing an observer’s perspective on the self (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Self-objectification has been linked to a range of maladaptive outcomes among adolescents (see Calogero, Tantleff-Dunn, & Thompson, 2011). The current study introduces a new construct: social media self-objectification (SMSO). This construct, adapted from objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), refers to a set of processes in which adolescents (1) internalize a social media audience perspective on their bodies, (2) overvalue attractiveness in social media photos, (3) engage in body surveillance with social media photos, and (4) create a “curated self” through photos. We expected SMSO to be uniquely associated with adolescents’ body-related and mental health outcomes, controlling for time spent on social media and a traditional measure of self-objectification.

Participants were 226 adolescents in an ethnically heterogeneous U.S. high school (Mage = 16.25; 58.4% female; 45.6% White, 24.3% Black, 25.2% Latino, 4.9% other race). Adolescents completed the 18-item Social Media Self-Objectification Scale (SMSOS), developed by the authors (details and results of scale development to be discussed). Example items appear in Table 1. Good internal consistency (α = .94) and one-week test-retest reliability (r = 0.87) were revealed. Participants also reported their daily time spent on social media, as well as the following established measures (see Table 2): body surveillance, considered the behavioral manifestation of self-objectification (McKinley & Hyde, 1996; α = .86), body shame (McKinley & Hyde, 1996; α = .84), body comparison (Fitzsimmons-Craft et al., 2012; α = .95), disordered eating symptoms (Gideon et al., 2016; α = .82), depressive symptoms (Angold et al., 1995; α = .92), and disrupted flow (Brown & Ryan, 2003; α = .91).

Table 1 shows descriptive statistics for the SMSOS full scale and subscales. As compared to boys, girls reported higher SMSO. Table 2 shows descriptive statistics for all primary study variables, along with their bivariate correlations with SMSO. SMSO was significantly correlated with all body-related variables as expected, for both boys and girls (all ps < .001), providing evidence for convergent validity. Additionally, results from hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed unique associations between SMSO and key outcome variables previously associated with traditional self-objectification. Specifically, controlling for gender, time on social media, and body surveillance, SMSO was significantly associated with disordered eating symptoms (ß = .35, p < .001), depressive symptoms (ß = .22, p = .01), and disrupted flow (ß = .52, p < .001). These results provide evidence for the reliability and validity of SMSO, as well as its unique associations with adolescent mental health.

Authors

• Sophie Choukas-Bradley, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Jacqueline Nesi, Brown University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Widman, North Carolina State University
  Non-Presenting Author