Body Image Dissatisfaction

1138 Words5 Pages

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. all these popular forms of social media outlets are what connects us to the world around us. It gives us the ability to expresses our thoughts, feelings, concerns, content or discontent through posts, pictures, and videos. So why are there so many college women that are so dissatisfied with their bodies. There has been numerous of psychological studies that have been done about the relationship between social media and body image dissatisfaction. More in particular about it effects on young women and college students in the U.S. Because, of the social comparison theory and how people are more likely to compare themselves to others, social media outlets become the perfect opportunity for this to happen. …show more content…

They used a sample of 77 studies and grouped them into four variables such as body dissatisfaction, body objectification, internalization of the thin ideal and drive for thinness and eating behaviors/beliefs. Out of all of these variables body image dissatisfaction had 90 studies in which they found a correlation between mass media and body image, the most out of all the others variables in this analysis. For measuring body dissatisfaction, they used over 14 different scales that evaluate the variable of measure, whether the participant is satisfied or dissatisfied which her body image after the exposure of media. These findings suggest that media exposure is associated with decreased levels of body dissatisfaction in women. According these findings repeated exposure to media content may lead to viewers to begin to accept media portrayals as representations of reality, and when they look within themselves and the standard is not met, dissatisfaction …show more content…

In "Negative comparisons about one 's appearance mediate the relationship between Facebook usage and body image concerns” they conducted an online survey with 227 female college students. They were asked to report how much they use Facebook and to indicate their level of agreement on whether or not they compare themselves to others online in different scenarios. The results showed a positive correlation between Facebook usage and body image dissatisfaction, due to comparisons made by what the participant sees online. While in “Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women 's body image concerns and mood” tested the effect of Facebook use on women’s mood and body image. 112 participants were randomly assigned to browsing their Facebook account for 10 minutes, a magazine or an appearance-neutral control website. The results of the study suggest that the participants that who spent time on their Facebook reported being in a more negative mood than the others groups. They also suggest that the increasing use of social networks sites makes women more likely to attribute social comparison