Communications in Humanities Research
- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences
Communications in Humanities Research
Vol. 29, 19 April 2024
Open
Access | Article
Seeking Approval of Appearance — The Link Between Social Media Use in China and Body Image Concerns
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Various scholars have verified that viewing beauty-related content on social media encourages valuing these idealized and unrealistic body shapes. A person's ideas, feelings, and perceptions regarding their body are referred to as their body image. A verified scale was used to assess individuals' appearance-related social media awareness. The study collected data from 229 respondents in China, aged 15 to 60, intending to examine whether individuals' preferences for receiving feedback from strangers or close peers would influence their body image concerns. The results show that people who prioritize comments from unknown people about their photos tend to be less satisfied than those who prioritize comments from people close to them. In addition, the study finds that men have a more neutral attitude towards related content, while women have a more positive attitude. In addition, the study highlights that the proportion of men and women who do not engage in photo editing habits is almost equal, suggesting that when examining the influence of social media on body image, further examination of the mental differences between the sexes is required.
Keywords
Social media, Body dissatisfaction, Body image, Gender difference, Social comparison
References
1. Myers, T. A., & Crowther, J. H.(2009). Social comparison as a predictor of body dissatisfaction: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 683–698. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0016763
2. Grogan, S. (2008). Body image: Understanding body dissatisfaction in men, women and children (second ed.). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
3. Sherlock, M., & Wagstaff, D. L. (2019). Exploring the relationship between frequency of Instagram use, exposure to idealized images, and psychological well-being in women. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(4), 482–490.
4. Bucchianeri, M. M., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2014). Body dissatisfaction: An overlooked public health concern. Journal of Public Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-11-2013-0071
5. Waddell TF and Sundar SS (2017) # thisshowsucks! The overpowering influence of negative social media comments on television viewers. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 61: 393–409.
6. Walther JB, DeAndrea D, Kim J, et al. (2010) The influence of online comments on perceptions of antimarijuana public service announcements on YouTube. Human Communication Research 36: 469–492.
7. Kim, H. M. (2020). What do others’ reactions to body posting on Instagram tell us? The effects of social media comments on viewers’ body image perception. New Media & Society, 146144482095636. doi:10.1177/1461444820956368
8. Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134(3), 460–476. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.460
9. Brownell, K. D. (1991). Dieting and the search for the perfect body: Where physiology and culture collide. Behavior Therapy, 22, 1–12.
10. Grogan, S. and Richards, H. (2002) Body image: Focus groups with boys and men. Men and Masculinities, 4(3), 219-232.
11. Murray, S. H., Touyz, S. W., & Beumont, P. J. V. (1995). The in-fluence of personal relationships on women’s eating behaviorand body satisfaction. Eating Disorders, 3, 243–252.
12. Wadden T. A., & Stunkard, A. J. (1985). Social and psychologi-cal consequences of obesity. Annals of Internal Medicine, 103, 1062–1067.
13. Tiggemann, M., & Velissaris, V. G. (2020). The effect of viewing challenging “reality check” Instagram comments on women’s body image. Body Image, 33, 257–263.
14. Vandenbosch, L., Fardouly, J., & Tiggemann, M. (2022). Social media and body image: Recent trends and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychology 2022, 45, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.12.002
15. Vendemia, M. A., & DeAndrea, D. C. (2021). The effects of engaging in digital photo modifications and receiving favorable comments on women’s selfies shared on social media. Body Image, 37, 74–83.
16. Choukas-Bradley, S., Nesi, J., Widman, L., & Higgins, M. K. (2019). Camera-ready: Young women’s appearance-related social media consciousness. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(4), 473–481. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000196
17. Slater, A. , & Tiggemann, M. (2015). Media Exposure, Extracurricular Activities, and Appearance-Related Comments as Predictors of Female Adolescents’ Self-Objectification. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 39(3), 375-389–389.
18. Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T.-A. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women's lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21(2), 173–206.
19. Calogero, R. M., Herbozo, S., & Thompson, J. K. (2009). Complimentary weightism: The potential costs of appearance-related commentary for women’s self-objectification. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, 120–132. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/j.1476402.2008.01479.x
20. Tiggemann, M., & Boundy, M. (2008). Effect of environment and appearance compliment on college women’s self-objectification, mood, body shame, and cognitive performance. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 32, 399–405. http://dx. doi.org/10.1111/j.14716402.2008.00453.x
21. Varnagirytė, E., & Perminas, A. (2022). The impact of appearance comments by parents, peers and romantic partners on eating behaviour in a sample of young women. Health Psychology Report, 10(2), 93–102. https://doi.org/10.5114/hpr.2021.111294
22. Van den Berg, P., Thompson, J. K., Obremski-Brandon, K., & Coovert, M. (2002). The Tripartite Influence model of body image and eating disturbance: A covariance structure modeling investigation testing the mediational role of appearance comparison. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 53(5), 1007-1020. doi: 10.1016/S0022-3999(02)00499-3.
23. Voges, M. M., Giabbiconi, C.-M., Schöne, B., Waldorf, M., Hartmann, A. S., & Vocks, S. (2019). Gender Differences in Body Evaluation: Do Men Show More Self-Serving Double Standards Than Women? https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00544
24. Brennan, M.A., Lalonde, C.E., & Bain, J. (2010). Body Image Perceptions: Do Gender Differences Exist? Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 15, 130-138.
25. Maheux, A. J., Roberts, S. R., Nesi, J., Widman, L., & Choukas-Bradley, S. (2022). Psychometric properties and factor structure of the appearance-related social media consciousness scale among emerging adults. Body Image, 43, 63–74.
26. Fardouly, J., Willburger, B. K., & Vartanian, L. R. (2018). Instagram use and young women’s body image concerns and self-objectification: Testing mediational pathways. New Media and Society, 20(4), 1380-1395–1395.
27. Fardouly, J., & Vartanian, L. R. (2015). Negative comparisons about one’s appearance mediate the relationship between Facebook usage and body image concerns. Body Image, 12, 82–88.
28. Wang, Y., Xie, X., Fardouly, J., Vartanian, L. R., & Lei, L. (2021). The longitudinal and reciprocal relationships between selfie-related behaviors and self-objectification and appearance concerns among adolescents. New Media and Society, 23(1), 56-77–77.
29. Franchina, V., & Coco, G. L. (2018). The influence of social media use on body image concerns. International Journal of Psychoanalysis & Education 10 (1), 6-14.
30. Wang, G., Zhang, W., & Zeng, R. (2019). WeChat use intensity and social support: The moderating effect of motivators for WeChat use. Computers in Human Behavior, 91, 244–251.
Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open Access Instruction).
- Volume Title
- Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Politics and Socio-Humanities
- ISBN (Print)
- 978-1-83558-365-4
- ISBN (Online)
- 978-1-83558-366-1
- Published Date
- 19 April 2024
- Series
- Communications in Humanities Research
- ISSN (Print)
- 2753-7064
- ISSN (Online)
- 2753-7072
- DOI
- 10.54254/2753-7064/29/20230424
- Copyright
- 19 April 2024
- Open Access
- This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited