A meta-analytic review of the relationship between social media use and body image disturbance

an article by Alyssa N.Saiphoo and ZahraVahedi (Ryerson University, Canada) published in Computers in Human Behavior Volume 101 (December 2019)

Highlights

• The valence of the relationship between social media use and body image is unclear.
• A positive relationship between social media use and body image disturbance was found.
• This relationship is dependent on body study-level and sample-level variables.

Abstract

With the quickly rising popularity of social media within the past decade, researchers have started to investigate the relationship between social media use and various psychological well-being variables. Given social media's similarity to traditional media, and the unique types of social comparisons that may occur on these platforms, body image has been a variable of interest.

However, this literature has produced mixed findings and lacks a consensus on the valence of this relationship. Thus, this meta-analysis aimed to provide a quantitative review of cross sectional research on this topic to provide clarification on the relationship between social media use and body image.

An analysis of sixty-three independent samples (N = 36,552) using a random-effects model revealed an overall effect size of r = 0.169, CI [0.131, 0.206], indicating a small, positive, and significant relationship between social media use and body image disturbance.

Type of social media use, body image dimension, country grouping, and age were all found to be significant moderators of this relationship. Strengths and limitations of the meta-analysis, as well as future directions for this line of research are discussed.

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Instagram: Friend or foe? The application’s association with psychological well-being

an article by Samantha B Mackson, Paula M Brochu and Barry A Schneider (Nova Southeastern University, USA) published in New Media & Society Volume 21 Issue 10 (October 2019)

Abstract

The current study examined the association between the social media application Instagram and its users’ psychological well-being.

Participants, both Instagram users and non-users, were surveyed online on measures of depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-esteem, body image, and social comparison. Participants who reported having an Instagram account were also asked about their time spent on Instagram and Instagram anxiety.

To understand the association between Instagram and psychological well-being, the study’s first aim was to compare participants who had an Instagram account with those who did not have one. Results revealed that participants with the application reported lower levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness, and higher levels of self-esteem, than participants who did not have an account. Furthermore, loneliness and self-esteem mediated the association between having an Instagram account and depression and anxiety.

The second aim of the study was to examine what factors are associated with Instagram users’ reports of anxiety and depression, focusing specifically on participants who reported having an Instagram account. Results revealed that anxiety and depression were predicted by Instagram anxiety and social comparison, respectively.

Overall, these results show that Instagram is associated with psychological well-being.

However, when Instagram users experience Instagram anxiety or engage in social comparison, it is associated with poorer psychological outcomes.

This research provides an insight into the psychological impact that Instagram can have on its users.

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How to Listen to Your Body and Give It What It Needs

a post by Wendy Leeds for the Tiny Buddha blog


“And I said to my body softly, ‘I want to be your friend.’ It took a long breath and replied, ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.’” ~ Nayyirah Waheed

For more than half my life, I took care of my body “by the numbers.” Every day, I walked a certain number of steps, no matter how sore, sick, or tired I was. I worked a certain number of hours, often going without sleep in order to finish my work and check off all the numbered items on my to-do list, no matter how my body begged for rest.

For weeks I’d follow a strict diet, counting points or calories or carbs, ignoring hunger pains and my growling stomach. But when the diet was over, I’d stuff myself on sweets and junk food until I felt sick and ashamed. At the same time, I struggled to see a certain number on the scale and to fit into a certain dress size.

Not only was I miserable physically, but when I didn’t meet these “number goals,” I felt like a failure, and told myself there was something wrong with me.

Maybe some of this sounds familiar to you. Maybe you’re exercising though pain, working beyond exhaustion, and eating in ways that leave you feeling tired, bloated, or sick.

Maybe, like me, you’re blaming your body for not being strong enough, thin enough, tough enough, or just plain not good enough.

But here’s the truth: None of this is your body’s fault.

Whether you know it or not, your body is speaking to you all day long. It’s telling you on an ongoing basis what it needs to keep you healthy, comfortable, and happy.

Continue reading

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Body Obsession: How My Weight Consumed My Life and Why I'm Done with Dieting

a post by Vania Nikolova for the Tiny Buddha blog


“You are not a mistake. You are not a problem to be solved. But you won’t discover this until you are willing to stop banging your head against the wall of shaming and caging and fearing yourself.” ~Geneen Roth

I’ve spent so much time on the dieting hamster wheel that I am almost too ashamed to admit it. Throughout my teen years I went from one crash diet to the next. When this proved more than unfruitful and disappointing, I changed strategies.

The next twelve years I spent searching for the “right lifestyle” for me, which would allow me to shrink to an acceptable size, be happy and healthy, and make peace with my body.

You can probably guess that I never found such a lifestyle. And I’m sure that it doesn’t exist for me. I’m still making peace with my body, but now I know this is internal work. No diet or size can bring me to this place.

Continue reading

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Change in body image among depressed adult outpatients after a dance movement therapy group treatment

an article by Päivi Pylvänäinen (Tampere City Mental Health Services, Finland; University of Jyväskylä, Finland) and Raimo Lappalainen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) published in The Arts in Psychotherapy Volume 59 (July 2018)

Highlights

• The tripartite model of body image consists of image-properties, body-self and body memory.
• Before the DMT, the patients’ body image reflected problems of presence.
• The DMT group treatment promoted safety, integrated body image, alleviated depression.
• The DMT group treatment made the participants’ presence more active and socially flexible.
• Statistically, body image improvement predicted symptoms alleviation.

Abstract

This study reports on the body image of depressed psychiatric outpatients, and the impact thereon of a dance movement therapy (DMT) group.

Body image is perceived as a tri-partite construct consisting of image-properties, body-self, and body memory.

Depressed patients in an outpatient mental health service participated in a DMT group treatment consisting of twelve 90-min long sessions in groups of 4–7 patients. Patients (N = 18) responded to a structured Body Image Assessment (BIA) before and after the treatment.

Initially, the depressed patients’ body image was characterized by fragmentation, distortions, and shallowness of body awareness. The DMT group treatment aimed to offer the patients a safe space for exploring their embodied experiences in a validating social setting.

This produced positive changes in the body image: finding a better sensation of one’s body, tolerating the sensations, settling in the body, finding pleasure and meaningfulness in the experiences.

BIA scores indicated large effect sizes in the change between pre- and post-treatment assessments. Change for more positive body image during the treatment predicted fewer depressive symptoms at the follow-up measurement.

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‘Community Is Being Lost’: Mental Illness Campaigner Natasha Devon on the Ideas in Her Bold New Book

a post by Dylan Brethour for the Rights Info blog



Mental health and body image campaigner Natasha Devon MBE writes about mental illness, pill shaming, and getting fired by the government in her new book A Beginner’s Guide to Being Mental: An A-Z From Anxiety to Zero F**cks Given.

“I very quickly realised that when the government says, ‘we consulted with experts,’ what they mean is ‘we’re going to go through experts until we find the one that’s going to back up what we were going to do anyway,’” Natasha Devon tells me. “And I wasn’t prepared to toe that line.”

We’re talking about her very public sacking by the Department of Education as a children’s mental health champion in 2016. Devon asserts that the relationship soured after she refused to rein in criticism of the government’s policies.

“I think it’s beyond dispute now that I’ve seen the freedom of information request,” she says, “I don’t think anyone would contest it.”

Continue reading

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Bodily Deviations and Body Image in Adolescence

an article by Runar Vilhjalmsson and Gudrun Kristjansdottir (University of Iceland, Reykjavik) and Dianne S. Ward (University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill) published in Youth & Society Volume 44 Number 3 (September 2012)

Abstract

Adolescents with unusually sized or shaped bodies may experience ridicule, rejection, or exclusion based on their negatively valued bodily characteristics.

Such experiences can have negative consequences for a person’s image and evaluation of self.

This study focuses on the relationship between bodily deviations and body image and is based on a national survey of 3,898 students attending 9th and 10th grade (age 14-16) in the Icelandic school system (92% response rate).

Girls had a considerably lower body image than boys. Overweight and heaviness were related to lower body image among both genders. Interactions with gender showed that short stature was negatively related to body image among boys, whereas underweight was positively related to body image among girls.

Bodily deviations can have positive implications, as shown by the fact that tall boys and girls had a more positive image of their body than their peers of lower stature.

Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

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