A Literature Review of Social Media and its Effects on the Body Image of

Adolescents

Presented to
Dr. Michael S. Naidas

Adventist University of the Philippines

Putting Kahoy, Silang, Cavite

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

In Academic Writing

By

Charlene Raye C. Tugade

March 2022

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Abstract

Adolescence is a time of tremendous change in physical appearance. Many

adolescents, may it be male or female, report dissatisfaction with their body shape and

size. Forming one's body image is a complex process, influenced by family, peers,

and for this digital era, social media. Numerous researches demonstrate that the

constant exposure to edited and unrealistic body types found so social media leads to

confusion and dissatisfaction for many young people. Sociocultural factors,

specifically media exposure, play an important role in the development of disordered

body image. Of significant concern, studies have revealed a link between media

exposure and the likelihood of having symptoms of eating disorders. In contrast, body

positivity and “#fitspiration” movements have been found to have to have a positive

influence on how adolescents view exercise, dieting, and even their own bodies.

Psychology practitioners, school personnel, pediatricians, and other adults must work

to promote media education and make media healthier for young people. More

research is needed to identify the most vulnerable children and adolescents.

Introduction

Since we are in the digital age, social media is a tool majority of smartphone

owners use daily. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines social media as “any form

of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and

microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information,

ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos) can be considered as

social media.” The website www.talkdistrict.com lists Facebook, Youtube, and

Whatsapp, Instagram, and Tiktok as the top most used social media sites for the year

2020 (Rubin, 2020). The youth is especially one of the most dominant users of social

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media. Definitely, something so powerful and with such a massive reach cannot be

filled with all “pros” especially if a wide demographic of social media users are the

adolescents. In today’s social media world, many young people are living their lives

in full view of an online audience. For those from a different generation, the idea of

‘checking in’ or sharing a selfie to let people know where they are and what they up

to might seem bizarre. However, for the adolescents of this generation, getting ‘likes’

on photos, posts, or comments in the virtual world can bring a powerful sense of

accomplishment and community acceptance.

Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood. It

includes some big changes—to the body, and to the way a young person relates to the

world. Allen from www.healthychildren.org lists three stages of adolescence and they

are the early adolescence stage composed of kids age 10-13 years old, middle

adolescence with teens aged 14-17 years old, and late adolescence with individuals

aged 18-21 years old (2019).

Often times, body image is confused with self-esteem. Self-esteem is defined

as how one thinks and feels about themself in totality. On the other hand, body image

is how one thinks and feels about their body. Body image is actually considered

component of self-esteem (Gallivan 2014). During puberty, adolescents experience

vast physical changes to their body within a culture that highly values appearance.

Triggers of body image dissatisfaction include increased weight, internalization of

mass media and cultural standards of the ideal appearance, and unhealthy social

comparison. In turn, increased body dissatisfaction may lead to problematic weight

management behaviors such as dieting, increased depressive symptoms, and lowered

self‐esteem. Gallivan discussed that over 50% of teen girls and 30% of teen boys use

unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking

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cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives. In addition, it was also found that over 80%

of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat and 53% of 13 year-old American girls are

unhappy with their bodies. This number grows to 78% by the time girls reach 17. By

middle school 40-70% of girls are dissatisfied with 2 or more parts of their body

(2014).

According to a 2020 CBC news article written by Jacobo, it was reported that

teens spend an average of seven hours and 22 minutes on their phone. Those seven

hours and 22 minutes are alloted for various activities such as social media usage,

gaming, and online videos viewing. At present, the internet plays a big role in daily

life, especially for adolescents. In this age group, they are more concerned about their

faces and body shapes. Since adolescents nowadays are spending vast numbers of

hours online, the content they consume can have a great impact on their thought

processes, especially on how they perceive what the normal or ideal body type is for

their respective genders. Since one of the most affected mental aspects is one’s body

image and self-esteem, this paper aims to discuss both the positive and negative

effects of social media on the body image of both male and female adolescents in the

next parts of this paper.

Research Gap/Background

Since parents of the current adolescents are from a generation wherein internet

and social media usage weren’t as prevalent, it is possibly much harder for them to

understand the effects of prolonged social media exposure on the body image of their

children. Extensive research must be done in order to help psychology professionals

and school personnel better understand the teenagers which in turn will help the said

professionals formulate better techniques on support and intervention.

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 In 2019, Muller explored the influence of social media on the male body

image. It was found that boys and men too experience intense media and peer

pressure to look a certain way. Unfortunately, this pressure has drastically increased

over the past 10 years. If girls are required to be thin, then boys and men are expected

to be well-muscled, ripped and lean. Furthermore it may cause males to start a fitness

regime in order to bulk up in order to achieve this perceived ‘ideal’. But taken too far,

this can lead to an obsession with diet and/or supplements and even steroid use. When

taken to extremes, in the end, this may result into an eating disorder.

To support, Shead discussed that the numerous altered images of social media

can have a dramatic impact on physical and mental well-being adolescent boys and

even men (2017). Depending on the severity of a person’s fixation on their body,

social media’s influence can sometimes lead people to become anabolic, anorexic

develop body dysmorphia later on in life. This is the unfortunate reality for males as

Paulson argues that that as humans, we have the innate tendency to compare ourselves

to other humans in order to determine self worth (2020).

Females are not exempt from feeling the negative effects of social media on

their body image. In fact, researchers focused more on the female experience than

males as there are more studies on the effects of social media on female body image

online available online. Gallivan found that over 50% of teen girls use unhealthy

weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes,

vomiting, and taking laxatives. In addition, it was also found that over 80% of 10 year

olds are afraid of being fat and 53% of 13 year-old American girls are unhappy with

their bodies. This number grows to 78% by the time girls reach 17 years of age.

(2014). Fonnesbeck also emphasized that placing too much value on weight loss and

appearance causes widespread anxiety about weight for everybody of every size.

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Emphasis on weight control is shown to increase risk for disordered eating behaviors

(2018).

The reason for these statistics could be explained by a 2019 article from King

University Online. The article states that an article out of the journal entitled Body

Image explained that young women often compare their own appearances negatively

with other women on Facebook. The study surveyed 227 female college students and

found that “young women who spend more time on Facebook may feel more

concerned about their body because they compare their appearance to others

(especially to peers). This means there are profound psychological consequences for

women’s body image when they compare their physical appearances to others.

Heta discusses that women and teens are expected to uphold unrealistically

high beauty standards while their followers are unaware of the effort and time it takes

to maintain them. This in turn creates an unrealistic idea of the ideal female body

shape. The positive feedback in the female teens’ comment section supports the fact

that society still holds an unrealistic standard of what the perfect body is meant to

look like (2020). In order to achieve the unrealistic ideal, women and teens resort to

using photo editing applications to alter their appearance and ultimately remove

imperfections. According to Goodwin, applications like Facetune or Retouch Me are

being used by teen girls before uploading their selfies to social media, or sharing with

their friends. This is having a profound impact on kids’ and teens’ body image and on

their subsequent self-esteem (2019).

Basically, both male and female adolescents experience the negative effects

social media can have on one’s body image. Both genders feel the need to fit the

unrealistic ideals set for them even if it means one must adapt to rigorous exercise

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regimes, unhealthy diet restrictions, or even photoshop usage. Kim and Chock believe

that online social grooming behaviors, such as viewing and commenting on peer’s

profiles, however, were significantly correlated with the drive for thinness for both

female and male participants (2015).

However, social media does not exclusively bring only negative effects to

body image. Some good contributions or influences to body image can be attributed to

social media usage. As an example, Gultzow discusses that Instagram users can

identify and reinforce their own values about eating, physical activity, and body

shape. It is proposed that when behaviors (e.g., exercise) are promoted on social

media, users learn to associate both norms (e.g., exercise to enhance appearance) and

outcomes (e.g., being attractive) to these behaviors. Plus, behaviors are more likely to

be replicated when those behaviors are socially rewarded—with functions, such as

likes and comments, embodying social rewards on social media (2019). An article

from MyVetCandy explains that with using Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory,

Instagram, through positive modeling, may help to counteract the obesity epidemic,

with the portrayals leading men to lead more healthy lifestyles (2020). Chatzopoulou

et al. support MyVetCandy’s explanation by stating that the determination to join in

on the trending online hashtag “#fitfam” is reinforced by fitness followers through

positive reinforcements (i.e., liking, tagging, and commenting). These reinforcements

tend to motivate Instagram users to repeat and intensify their behavior (2020).

The body positivity movement aims for acceptance and acknowledgment of

normal and unaltered bodies, therefore catalyzing a shift within society, media and

fashion as discussed by Mazu in 2018. Even though there is a long way to go we are

now seeing an increase of normal male bodies on social media, television and movies

which is no doubt breeding a new generation of males confident to show their

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“natural” bodies. More and more males are now posting themselves on social media

and pushing for even more change in the present ideals society has for the perfect

male body.

Male adolescents are not the only ones who benefit from the #fitspiration and

body positivity movements found in different social media platforms (mainly on

Instagram). Due to the rise of body positive initiatives, there are various ways that

people can get involved with promoting positive body confidence (Evans, 2019).

Therefore, female adolescents benefit as well from the new emerging movements.

Lockhart supports this by stating that social networking sites like Instagram are

rapidly attracting young girls to participate into getting more fit. The acute popularity

and success of fitness models created the playground for young girls to join. Young

girls see the validation these models receive when they post selfies of their toned

bodies which in turn motivates them to have the same body and healthy lifestyle

(2019). To add, Norton explained that The fitspiration culture provides many women

and girls with a supportive online community, which encourages them to to work out,

to follow specific diets and online workout routines that are actually healthy, and to

strive for a fit and toned body type.

There are already numerous researches conducted which discuss both the

positive and negative effects of social media on the body image of adolescents.

However, more research on the said topic means a better chance that both adults and

adolescents will be more educated on the effects of social media on body image. Once

adolescents are given proper education on the matter, they may be able to more

successfully navigate these challenges and can develop a positive body image,

including body appreciation.

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Methods

This study employed the review of related literature on social media usage, the

positive effects of social media on male/female adolescents’ body image, and the

negative effects of social media on male/female adolescents’ body image. The data

found was based on analysis of the results of the gathered journals where the effects

of social media on body image were explored using different research methods.

Chatzopoulou et al. argued that qualitative research is needed to further

explore user behavior on social media and to provide deeper insights about users'

emotional connection with social media and its impact on wellbeing (2020).

Therefore, a qualitative research approach was chosen as it is the most appropriate

research technique to explore real perceptions, attitudes and phenomena. Interviews

were chosen for data collection due to their ability to uncover underlying motivations,

beliefs, attitudes, and feelings. In more detail, narrative interviews were used to shed

light on the interviewees' experience of Instagram fitness hashtag usage. Furthermore,

due to the nature and sensitivity of male body image concerns, the integration of the

projective technique was deemed to be the most suitable for extracting more data.

In the study conducted by Chatzopolou et al., one-on-one interviews were

carried out so that detailed answers could be given by respondents who felt

comfortable to disclose potentially sensitive, unspoken before, information.

Participants included 25 male British millennials who were followers of the #fitfam

and other fitness hashtags (e.g., #fitspiration). Most of the participants were living in

the North‐East of England at the time of the interview. It is important to note that in

this area people tend to exercise in gyms due to limited opportunities for outdoor

activities (2020).

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 The study conducted by Tiggemann & Zaccardo in 2016, provided a content

analysis of fitspiration imagery on the social networking site Instagram. A set of 600

images were coded for body type, activity, objectification and textual elements.

Participants which were 130 female undergraduates were randomly exposed to either

fitspiration or neutral travel images, in order to figure out whether fitspiration photos

had a negative impact on mood, body image, and self-esteem. Travel photos were

used as a control to fitspiration images.

On the other hand, Hogue and Mills conducted an experimental study which

examined the effects of engaging on social media with attractive female peers on

young adult women’s body image. Participants were 118 female undergraduate

students randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions. Participants first

completed a visual analogue scale measure of state body image and then either

browsed and left a comment on the social media site of an attractive female peer (n = 

56) or did the same with a family member (n = 62) and then completed a post-

manipulation visual analogue scale measure of state body image (2020).

For the Polish study conducted by Duplaga in 2020, A survey for young

women consisted of 55 items. Standardized tools were used for the assessment of

health literacy and ehealth literacy. The questionnaire also included also a set of the

items asking about health-related use of the internet, accessing sites conducted by

Polish fitness influencers active on the Internet, health behaviors, a self-assessment of

health status, opinions about vaccinations and homeopathy, the intake of dietary

supplements, and the use of over-the-counter (OTC) or prescribed medication.

For the statistical analysis, absolute and relative frequencies were calculated

for the categorical variables and mean and standard deviation for the continuous

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variables. The chi2 test and univariate logistic regression models were developed to

analyze the relationship between the use of fitness influencers’ sites (FIS) and the

sociodemographic factors, HL, eHL, and the time spent using the Internet. The

relationship between the use of fitness influencers’ sites (FIS) and health behaviors

was assessed using multivariate logistic regression models after adjusting for HL,

eHL, and sociodemographic variables.

The 2020 study conducted by Cohen et al. aimed to investigate the effect of

viewing body-positive Instagram posts on young women’s mood and body image.

Participants were 195 young women who were randomly allocated to view either

body-positive, thin-ideal, or appearance-neutral Instagram posts. Before and after

viewing various content women were asked to rate their mood, body satisfaction, and

the extent to which they focused on their appearance (known as self-objectification).

Results, Analysis and Findings

A 2020 study conducted by Chatzopoulou, et al. found negative effects of

prolonged social media exposure to males. The negative effects include muscle

dysmorphia symptoms, higher pressure and anxiety due to increased competition, as

well as fitness motivation, enhanced masculinity, self‐confidence, happiness, fitness

knowledge, and healthy eating. However, their study also found that “#fispiration”

movement drove interviewees to make body image investments and perform the

“body transformation.” The body transformation allowed users to acquire the

confidence needed to become more active members in the fitness hashtag community,

namely to be able to post pictures of their body using fitness hashtags. The findings

also reveal that the higher engagement with fitness hashtags had an influence on

interviewees' behavior, attitude and well-being. Those highly engaged Instagram users

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who were motivated to exercise more and changed their lifestyle saw results on their

bodies which made them feel happier and more self‐confident.

Meanwhile, researchers have looked at the role of Instagram on body

image with adolescent girls and young women -- which are the most frequent users of

the social media platform. Studies on the social networking site Instagram have

mostly focused on “fitspiration” pictures and content from the young adult population.

Despite the fitspiration movement’s good intentions, researchers have suggested

dysfunctional themes in the images and messages. For instance, when over 600

fitspiration images were studied, one major theme regarding the female body

emerged: thin and toned (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2016). Which basically sets thin

and toned bodies at the prime ideal look for females and in turn makes females who

do not look like them feel bad about their bodies. To support, some researchers

suggest that even the mere act of watching fitspiration on Instagram can lead to

unhealthy eating and exercise behaviors in young adults (Holland & Tiggemann,

2016). In one experiment done by Tiggemann & Zaccardo in 2015, 130 female

undergraduates were randomly exposed to either fitspiration or neutral travel images,

scientists found that the appearance-based pictures of fitspiration had a negative

impact on mood, body image, and self-esteem. In summary of the report, the college

students who were exposed to fitspiration images felt worse about themselves and

their bodies compared to the individuals who viewed neutral images. However, the

researchers remind the readers that limitations of these studies need to be kept in mind

when interpreting the findings.

Hogue and Mills conducted a study in 2020 which revealed that young adult

women who actively engaged with the image-based social media of attractive peers

would have more negative body image than before doing so, whereas young adult

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women who engaged with the image-based social media of family would not. Results

of their study found that viewing attractive peers’ social media resulted in worsened

body image in young adult women, whereas interacting with that of family had no

effect on state body image, supporting their initial hypothesis. Their findings also

agree with the recommendation that body image media literacy programs should

highlight social media use, especially pressures associated with viewing images of

others.

In a study conducted on Polish teens and women by Duplaga, it was found that

the use of fitness influencer sites or FIS was significantly associated with the

consumptions of fruit and vegetables and was a prevailing predictor of young adult

Polish women’s health behaviors. FIS may play a potentially important role in

promoting a healthy lifestyle in this population.

In addition, a 2020 study conducted by Cohen et al. demonstrates that before

and after viewing body positive content, women were asked to rate their mood, body

satisfaction, and the extent to which they focused on their appearance. Results show

that brief exposure to body positive Instagram posts resulted in improved body image

and mood in young women, compared to idealized and appearance-neutral posts. It

was concluded that “women who viewed body positive posts felt more satisfied with

their bodies, were more appreciative of the unique functions and health of their

bodies, and had more positive mood. In contrast, those who viewed idealised

Instagram posts had poorer body image and mood” (Cohen et al., 2020, para.14).

Although this study found positive results for body image, it also showed that

body positive content may influence women to be more focused on their physical

appearance over other aspects of themselves.

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 The results gathered from various researches clearly display that social media

has a wide array of both positive and negative effects on the body image of both male

and female adolescents. However, more research must be conducted in the future in

order to determine other hidden positive/negative effects social media has over time

and a deeper exploration on what types of posts are more helpful or detrimental than

others must be done as well.

Discussion/Conclusion

Since the world in the digital era, the internet and social media is now a

constant part of society’s lives. Although the internet and social media make

humanity’s lives easier, they also bring malevolent effects in the lives of many --

particularly in the body image of both male and female adolescents. However, there

are still ways the adolescent internet users can protect themselves from the negatives

effects social media brings to their body image. With social media literacy and if used

correctly, Paxton and McClean suggest that social media can have positive effects on

one’s perceived body image (2016). Social media can positively impact body image

in a number of ways. Health, wellness, fitness, and plant-based food accounts can all

be inspirational models for some users. Through these frameworks, social media users

can maintain a healthy and positive outlook on their body image. Parents, psychology

practioners, school personnel, pediatricians and other adults must not only monitor

what the youth are exposing themselves to only but they must also work to promote

better media education and make media healthier for young people.

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