Objectification in Social Media and Sexualized Gender Stereotypes: Implications for Early Adolescent Body Image

• In Event: 3-144 - Sexualization in Childhood and Early Adolescence: Associations with Peer Relationships, Academics, and Body Image

Integrative Statement

Social media use among early adolescents centers on posting and interacting with photos, often of the self (i.e., selfies). Research has shown that individuals post content on social media with their network of friends in mind (Manago et al., 2004). To do this, youth must view their body and themselves from an outsider’s perspective, a form of self-objectification (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Engaging in self-objectification via posting photos of the self on social media has been linked with negative body image, including body shame, defined as negative feelings toward the body and self for failing to achieve the ideal body type (Grogan, 2008; Holland & Tiggemann, 2016; Meier & Gray, 2014; Salomon & Brown, 2018). Research has not fully examined how the cultural context of social media use may be contributing to the relationship between social media self-objectification and body shame. Namely, early adolescents use social media within the broader context of sexualized gender stereotypes (SGS), which suggest that women and girls derive their value from being sexualized and appearance-focused (Stone & Brown, 2016; Ward 2002). Engaging in social media self-objectification may contribute to body shame because it provides reinforcement (e.g., “likes”) for self-objectifying behaviors, which in turn encourages the endorsement of SGS. As girls are more strongly reinforced for self-objectification (particularly when it is sexualized), they may value their sexualized appearance more, and may in turn have more concerns about their body. Thus, the current study explored whether early adolescent girls’ endorsement of SGS mediated the relationship between self-objectifying behaviors on social media and body shame. Participants were 142 seventh grade students from four public middle schools in a medium-sized city in the Upper South (43 boys, 99 girls; age: M [SD] = 12.44 years [.61]). Participants’ ethnicities included: White (45%), Latinx (22%), Black (19%), and multiracial (13%). To asses self-objectifying social media use, scores were created based on how many hours a week participants spent using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and how many self-objectifying behaviors they reported engaging in on social media (e.g. posting selfies, asking people to rate a photo). Participants also completed a sexualized gender stereotype measure (based on Ward, 2002; adapted by Jewell et al., 2015) and the body shame subscale from the youth version of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (Lindberg et al., 2006). As hypothesized, endorsement of SGS mediated the association between self-objectifying social media use and body shame. Controlling for gender, the indirect effect (c-c’) of self-objectifying social media use on body shame through SGS was significant, 95% CI [.0044, .1144]. Self-objectified social media use significantly predicted SGS (path a), b = .10, t(133) = 4.16, p < .001, and SGS significantly predicted body shame (path b), b = .31, t(131) = 2.84, p = .0052. The association between self-objectifying social media use and body shame (path c; b = .08, t(134) = 2.56, p = .012) was not significant when SGS was included in the model. Implications for adolescent development will be discussed.

Author

• Ilyssa Salomon, University of Kentucky
  Presenting Author