Poster #96 - "Spilling the tea" on Gen Z Social Media use and Body Image

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

In the United States, over 60% of children and 95% of teens have smartphones, with many using a smartphone before age four (Anderson & Jiang, 2018; Auxier et al., 2020). Correspondingly, access to social media continues to increase, raising concern as youth who spend more time on social media are more likely to have body image concerns, disordered eating, lower self-esteem, and greater anxiety (Colunga-Rodríguez et al., 2016; Marengo et al., 2018). This cross-sectional study examined media use and absorption, body image, and media pressures by child-report, parent-report, and data gathered directly from children’s phone/device.
One-hundred and fifty Midwestern American Generation Z (born 1997-2012) youth participated in this study in person (91.3% White, 52% female) and were divided into three age categories; ages 9-11 years (n=52) “children,” ages 12-14 years (n=37) “young teens,” and ages 15-17 years (n=52) “older teens”.
Teens self-reported using their smartphones more than children F(2,136) = 10.93, p<.001. When compared to smartphone-based (i.e., collected by the operating system’s battery feature) data, parents overestimated the amount that their children and teens used social media (t(61) = 2.59, p=.012). Gender differences were not found for main variables (see table 1 for all variable means by age and gender, independent samples t-tests, all p’s>.05) except for female older teens feeling more pressured than males to have a better body (t(50)=-2.69, p=.010).
No differences were seen between the age groups for desires for thinness (F(2,136) = .37, p=.687) or peer pressure (F(2,136) = 1.85, p=.160). There were differences by age group, however, by media pressure, with children perceiving lower media pressure than older teens (F(2,136) = 3.41, p=.036). Media awareness differed by age category (F (2,136) = 6.79, p=0.002), such that children were less aware of media pressure than both young teens and older teens. Media internalization differed by age group (F(2,136) = 3.099, p=0.048), such that children reported lower media internalization compared to young teens and older teens.
Integration and absorption of smartphones into daily life differed by age category (F(2,136) = 6.73, p=0.002), such that children were lower than both young teens and older teens. Total self-reported screen time positively correlated with absorption for children (r=.56, p<.001) and young teens (r=.57, p<.001), but not for older teens (see table 2 for correlations between all main variables).
In conclusion, smartphone and social media use by children varied by age, but not gender. Parents were not aware of how much their children were on social media and overestimated. Media pressures, internalization, and awareness related to body image were higher in teens than children. Teens also reported more smartphone absorption in their daily lives. One possible reason for the difference in internalization of the thin ideal and awareness of media pressure across age groups is pubertal onset and the developmental differences experienced during adolescence. It is probable that the content of social media messaging is more impactful to psychological constructs than hours spent on phones or social media.

Authors

• Claire Cassidy Heilman, University of Findlay
  Presenting Author

• Natalee Harris, The University of Findlay

• Sarah E. Domoff, Central Michigan University

• Jacob Burmeister, The University of Findlay

• Allison Kiefner-Burmeister, University of Findlay