Abstract
This study investigated how social media use is related to body esteem (particularly weight satisfaction and muscularity importance) in adolescents. We conducted a 17-day Ecological Momentary Assessment study among 183 adolescents (12–17 years, 58% girls). Each adolescent reported on his/her social media use, weight satisfaction, and muscularity importance four times per day (68 assessments per participant; 6,863 completed in total). Using a person-specific, N=1 method of analysis (Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling), we found that at the between-person level, social media use is not associated with lower satisfaction with one’s weight and greater importance of looking masculine. At the within-person level, we found a significantly negative association for weight satisfaction and a significantly positive association for muscularity importance. For weight satisfaction, 76% of adolescents experienced no or very small effects as a result of SMU, 2% experienced positive effects, and 22% experienced negative effects. Regarding muscularity importance, 89% experienced no or very small effects of SMU on muscularity importance, 10% experienced positive effects, and 1% experienced negative effects. There is little evidence of gender differences in the effect of social media on body esteem in our sample.
Degree
MS
College and Department
Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Family Life
Rights
https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Van Alfen Brown, Megan, "Differential Effects of Social Media on Body Esteem: An Ecological Momentary Assessment on Weight Satisfaction and Muscularity Importance" (2024). Theses and Dissertations. 10460.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/10460
Date Submitted
2024-06-12
Document Type
Thesis
Handle
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd13298
Keywords
body esteem, social media, differential susceptibility, weight satisfaction, muscularity importance, adolescence, dynamic structural equation modeling
Language
english