Me, my selfie, and I: The relationship between editing and posting selfies and body dissatisfaction in men and women
Introduction
Body dissatisfaction is associated with negative outcomes, including eating disorder pathology and lower quality of life (Griffiths et al., 2016). It is therefore crucial to investigate the role played by risk factors, such as social media, in the development of body dissatisfaction. Social media is a common form of communication, and distinct from traditional media, is highly interactive, immediate, and targeted towards individual users. Internalization of sociocultural appearance standards exerted by media, including social media, have been implicated in the development of body dissatisfaction amongst women (Ferguson, 2013; Izydorczyk & Sitnik-Warchulska, 2018). Although few prospective studies exist, there is evidence from at least one longitudinal study that frequent social network use results in body dissatisfaction rather than the reverse (de Vries, Peter, de Graaf, & Nikken, 2016). Experimental research has further indicated that women who took and posted a selfie to their social media profile reported lower perceived physical attractiveness compared to those who did not take a selfie (Mills, Musto, Williams, & Tiggemann, 2018). Social media sites associated with poor body image outcomes include those that are primarily photo-based, such as Instagram (Fardouly, Willburger, & Vartanian, 2017). Research by McLean, Paxton, Wertheim, and Masters, (2015) provided some of the first evidence regarding a positive association between photo-based social media behaviors and body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls. Traction in this area has expanded to identify similar relationships in adults (Cohen, Newton-John, & Slater, 2018).
With 90% of young adults accessing social media on a daily basis (Perrin, 2015), research has turned away from general use to focus more specifically on photo-based behaviors. This has resulted in a recent meta-analysis concluding that the use of appearance-related features, such as posting photographs, has a stronger relationship with thin-ideal internalization among women, than the broad use of social media (Mingoia, Hutchinson, Wilson, & Gleaves, 2017). Behaviors associated with thin-ideal internalization and body disatisfaction include frequent engagement with photo-related activities, such as editing and posting selfies (Cohen et al., 2018), and self-surveillance (e.g., checking “likes”; Fox & Rooney, 2015).
Self-compassion has been identified as a protective factor, in women, to mitigate the negative effects of comparing one’s appearance against sociocultural norms, which may be heightened in the context of social media (Braun, Park, & Gorin, 2016). Self-compassion refers to the capacity to experience unpleasant thoughts and emotions with warmth and self-acceptance, rather than self-judgment (Raes, Pommier, Neff, & Van Gucht, 2011). In regards to social media exposure, one study found that when women viewed a series of images of idealized bodies and self-compassion statements, they reported greater body satisfaction (e.g., “satisfied with my body shape”) compared to women who viewed only idealized body images (Slater, Varsani, & Diedrichs, 2017), suggesting that self-compassion may buffer against the potentially harmful impact of social media.
Little is known, however, about the differential effect of self-compassion on photo-based social media behaviors across genders. Of the limited research conducted with male cohorts, it appears that men do post and edit selfies, often for external validation and to cultivate their “best” appearance (Fox & Vendemia, 2016). Moreover, a systematic review, although based on few studies, suggested that the relationship between body dissatisfaction and social media use appears to be similar across genders (Holland & Tiggemann, 2016). Research that includes both males and females is therefore important to more fully understand the potential negative relationships between photo-based social media on body dissatisfaction within the population.
The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and both manipulation of selfies (photo manipulation) and investment in choosing a selfie to post to social media, and others’ responses to such images (photo investment), in male and female users. We also aimed to investigate whether self-compassion moderated these relationships. It was hypothesized that body dissatisfaction would be positively associated with photo manipulation and photo investment, and that the relationship between body dissatisfaction and both photo manipulation/photo investment would be weaker for participants who reported greater self-compassion. No a priori hypotheses were made regarding gender differences. As age has been included as a covariate in prior studies (e.g., Fox & Vendemia, 2016), and in light of research that suggests higher body mass index (BMI) is related to body dissatisfaction (Weinberger, Kersting, Riedel-Heller, & Luck-Sikorski, 2016), both age and BMI were controlled for in regression analyses.
Section snippets
Procedure and participants
Participants were recruited via a university advertisement that invited first year psychology students to participate in the ‘Social Media Survey,’ which aimed to: (a) examine associations between the use, and frequency, of social media sites and mental health; and (b) determine gender differences in the prevalence and correlates of social media use. Consenting participants completed the online questionnaire (15 min) and were provided course credit for their participation. The survey was
Descriptive statistics
Means and standard deviations for key measures are reported in Table 1. The ANOVA revealed significant gender effects, whereby women scored significantly higher on photo manipulation and body dissatisfaction, but lower on self-compassion than men. No gender differences were obtained on photo investment scores.
Correlations
Correlations between age, gender, BMI, photo manipulation, photo investment, body dissatisfaction, and self-compassion are displayed in Table 2. There were moderate positive associations
Discussion
In line with the aims of the study, body dissatisfaction was positively associated with photo manipulation and photo investment when controlling for demographic factors. This is consistent with research that found photo-based social media activities coincide with body dissatisfaction (Fardouly et al., 2017; Mingoia et al., 2017). Those that are dissatisfied with their appearance may be more likely to cultivate their image in an online environment, such as digitally editing, and choosing the
Declarations of interest
None.
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