2/17/2024 0 Comments Boy teenage body model![]() ![]() Time spent on the Internet has been associated with increased body dissatisfaction among adolescent girls, with the interaction allowed by social media and appearance-focused content influencing body image concerns through negative social comparisons and peer normative processes. The potential harms associated with body dissatisfaction highlight negative body image as an important public health concern. Body dissatisfaction has been linked to low self-esteem, decreased mental health and wellbeing, and the development of eating disorders among adolescent girls. Body dissatisfaction is an important element of body image and can range in severity from having a preference for different body characteristics to the uptake of extreme action to change one’s body. ![]() īody image encompasses the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes one has about their body and appearance. For girls, the combination of reaching puberty, their body changing, and the importance of approval from peers and romantic relationship formation can increase vulnerability to negative body image and research suggests social media may have a greater influence on their body dissatisfaction compared to boys’. However, research has largely reported adverse influences from adolescents’ social media use, contributing to mental health difficulties including increased depression, anxiety, and self-harm behaviors, decreased socio-emotional wellbeing, low self-esteem and negative body image. Positive aspects of social media use include increased peer connection and support, and opportunities to learn. ![]() ![]() Social media has been found to have both positive and negative impacts on the lives of adolescents. Adolescence is also a time when young people begin to use social media, online platforms enabling social interaction through the creation of individualized online profiles and sharing of photos, videos and other media on sites or apps such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. The findings of this study have important implications for professionals working with adolescent girls and for the development of health promotion programs addressing social media use and body image concerns.Īdolescence is an important period of development, with major physical, social, cognitive and emotional changes, and identity formation occurring. The importance of awareness and education from a younger age about social media and its influence on body image was emphasized, as was the need for strategies to promote positive body image and counteract negative body image. Comparisons also influenced adolescent girls’ efforts to change their appearance and seek validation on social media. Appearance comparisons were perceived to exacerbate adolescent girls’ appearance-based concerns. Participants identified body image as a major concern, reporting negative appearance comparisons when viewing images on social media. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. In-depth interviews were conducted with girls aged 14–17 years (n = 24) in Perth, Western Australia. This study explored how sexualized images typically found on social media might influence adolescent girls’ mental health, in positive and/or negative ways. Sexual objectification through images may reinforce to adolescent girls that their value is based on their appearance. The presence of sexualized images online is thought to contribute, through increasing body dissatisfaction among adolescent girls. Adolescent girls appear more vulnerable to experiencing mental health difficulties from social media use than boys. ![]()
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