Social media and body image: Recent trends and future directions

Laura Vandenbosch; Jasmine Fardouly; Marika Tiggemann

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.12.002

Social media and body image: Recent trends and future directions

Curr Opin Psychol. 2022 Jun:45:101289. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.12.002. Epub 2021 Dec 14.

Authors

Laura Vandenbosch¹, Jasmine Fardouly², Marika Tiggemann³

Affiliations

¹ School for Mass Communication Research, KU Leuven, Parkstraat 45, 3000, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: laura.vandenbosch@kuleuven.be.
² School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, New South Wales, 2052, Australia. Electronic address: j.fardouly@unsw.edu.au.
³ College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia. Electronic address: Marika.Tiggemann@flinders.edu.au.

PMID: 35030460
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.12.002

Abstract

This review presents recent trends in social media and body image research, with a particular focus on different social media platforms, features unique to social media, and potentially positive content for body image. First, it was found that visual platforms (e.g. Instagram) were more dysfunctional for body image than more textual platforms (e.g. Facebook). Second, taking and editing (but not posting) selfies resulted in negative effects on body image. Positive comments intensified the effects of exposure to idealized content. Third, of the forms of potentially positive content examined in recent research (i.e. fitspiration, disclaimer labels, and body positivity), only body positivity content had a positive effect on body image. Recommendations for future research are offered.

Keywords: Body image; Body positivity; Objectification; Social comparison; Social media.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Body Image*
Humans
Social Media*