Social Media and Body Dissatisfaction Page !

Social Media and Body Dissatisfaction (Option A)

Code: CQ45

Psyc 3P18

Dr. Shulman

TA: Tori Dykstra

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This paper discusses the effect of social media and it’s negative impact on body image in

adolescents and whether this is modified by parent-child relationships. The researchers knew that

body dissatisfaction is common amongst most adolescents and they wanted to test what drove

this negativity. There is a stigma which is associated with social media and the images that are

conveyed on it. Researchers described that adolescents felt a level of insecurity or low self

esteem as a result of viewing images on social media because the bodies seen there did not match

the ones they saw when they look in the mirror. Society has an idealized way an image of a boy

or a girl are supposed to look Usually this means thin and muscular (Vries, et al, 2018, pg. 527).

With these expectations comes a lot of unhappiness for adolescents who cannot achieve that

praised body type.

Researchers tested three hypotheses. First, they wanted to confirm that social media does

have an influence on body dissatisfaction. Second, they wanted to see if a stronger parent-child

relationship led to less body dissatisfaction when adolescents were using social media. Finally,

they tested if a general positive relationship with both parents prevented or reduced body

dissatisfaction (Vries, et al, 2018, pg.529).

To test their hypotheses, they selected a sample of 440 adolescents, ages 12-19. The

sample was split to 232 boys and 205 girls. They considered all levels of education. Most

participants came from a Dutch background. Participants were asked to fill out multiple

questionaries. The first assessment was about body dissatisfaction; this used the Body Attitude

Test to determine how adolescents compared their bodies with their peers. Next, they assessed

about the amount of social media use, hours per week, posts per week etc. The final
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questionnaire discussed their relationship with their parents. This judged the relationship based

on levels of conflict, criticism, love, pressure and dominance at home.

The result was that the use of social media did strongly influence body dissatisfaction and

more use of social media would result in higher levels of unhappy body image (Vries, et al, 2018,

pg. 531). Researchers proved their first hypothesis. With respect to the effect of parental

involvement, they found a surprising conclusion that body dissatisfaction was less likely if the

participant had a strong positive relationship with only the mother. Their relationship with the

father had little or no effect on body dissatisfaction. They concluded that their second hypothesis

was only somewhat proven. The last hypothesis was also only partially supported because social

media and parent-child relationships only had an effect on body dissatisfaction if the participant

had a strong relationship with the mother (Vries, et al, 2018, pg. 532). With that being said, if the

score was significantly high (4.08 or higher) on the questionnaire, the statistic would be invalid

meaning strong mother relationship wouldn’t have an effect (Vries, et al, 2018, pg.532).

There were some limitations of the study. The researchers did not measure Body Mass

Index of the subjects (Vries, et al, 2018, pg. 534). This doesn’t allow them to differentiate

between body type and whether being heavier or skinnier had an influence on body

dissatisfaction. Ten percent of participants did not complete all of the questionaries. Researchers

also did not control for parental presence (Vries, et al, 2018, pg. 527). This means how often the

mother or father were in the house to support and influence positive relationships. The

participants were ages 12-19. This suggests that some had not hit puberty yet which could have a

large effect due to body changes while going through puberty.

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A way to fix some of these limitations would be to do a follow up experiment. Have two

groups; a control group and an experimental group. Equal number of each body type, and ages

15-19 years. All participants would be required to answer a questionnaire about body image and

social media. After the questionnaire is done, the experimental group would go on a social media

site with images of this “perfect body” (eg. celebrities such as Kim Kardashian or Gigi Hadid).

The control group would look at social media sites of cute animals. Afterwards, pose another

questionnaire about positive and negative body image and see if there was any influence. This

would eliminate confounding variables from the earlier study.

The results of Vries, et al study was to better clarify factors that influence adolescent

development. Many sub factors surround social media and its link with to body dissatisfaction.

Body dissatisfaction is especially serious for adolescents because they are prone to develop

eating disorders. Adolescents may become discouraged by seeing images on the internet and not

understand why they can’t look like that so they may develop bulimia (binging and purging

episodes) or anorexia nervosa (when an individual chooses not to eat, and exercises vigorously).

Some of these eating disorders are fatal. There is also increased risk for suicide and

bullying.

These disorders are more common for girls than boys which is why it is important as

discussed in this research to have a strong relationship with their mother so they can be kept on

the right path. These issues have particular importance when adolescents are going through

puberty. There are a lot of body changes, heightened hormones and cognitive changes. All these

factors lead to a distorted body image while going through the transition of puberty (facial hair,

growth spurt, menarche, etc.) to adulthood. A good core parent- child relationship is crucial.
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While this research examined individuals from age 12-19, it must be remembered that during this

time there also changes in peer relationships. Peer influence becomes almost stronger than

parental influence because there is more time spent with peers (ie. School).

Another factor that changes adolescents mind set about body image can be caused by

bullying in school or cyberbullying. At this age, adolescents don’t have the ability or the mindset

to be able to not go on social media because they will feel that they need to participate on social

media with their friends but they wont want to isolate themselves. Part of the problem with

cyberbullying to is although the easiest solution is to turn off the phone, part of it is that

adolescents want to know what people are saying about them, good or bad. The results can be

beneficial from the study because we now know how strong the influence social media has on

negative body image and those can be changed when there isn’t a stigma around what is on

social media. However, this issue is very prevalent is all young adolescents because it has

become the norm to know that if a boy is picking on a girl, it means they like them. These

comments because said are usually about facial features, body weight, height etc. Once those

comments are said, it can completely change the way someone views themselves. An article done

by The New York Times found that 4,400 deaths per year are due to adolescent bullying (Eckholm

& Zezima, 2010).

A strong core parental relationship may insulate adolescent’s against unhealthy peer

influences.

An important take home message for parents, teachers and other people involved in

adolescent development is to be aware of what is being looked at on social media. With that

being said, do not increase parental authority but just be wary to what is being viewed on social
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media at home and in the classroom. Also for parents, make sure there is a certain level of

presence around the house and interaction with their own kids. It is important to increase positive

relationships and a good environment for the adolescent to continue to grow up in.
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References

Eckholm, E., & Zezima, K. (2010, March 29). 6 Teenagers Are Charged After Classmate's

Suicide. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/us/30bully.html

de Vries, Dian A, Helen G. M Vossen, and Paulien van der Kolk – van der Boom. “Social Media

and Body Dissatisfaction: Investigating the Attenuating Role of Positive Parent–Adolescent

Relationships.” Journal of youth and adolescence 48.3 (2018): 527–536. Web.