Understanding how social networking sites influence adolescent body image, wellbeing, and psychosocial functioning

Meechem, Sabrina

Abstract

Social networking sites (SNS) are used by a significant proportion of the population. A large body of literature has highlighted the relationship between SNS use and increased body image concerns, decreased wellbeing, and a diverse range of offline behaviours. However, the majority of existing research has focused on exploring these relationships in young adults, with fewer studies focusing on adolescents and preadolescents.

The current body of work utilised a multi-method approach to explore the relationship between adolescent and preadolescent SNS use and body image concerns, wellbeing, and psychosocial functioning, while accounting for changes in adolescents’ environment. Taken together, the studies add knowledge to our understanding of the complex topic of SNS use, body image concerns, wellbeing, and psychosocial functioning. This is achieved by exploring possible moderators and mediators that are important in these relationships for adolescents. In addition to this, the research within this thesis also seeks to understand how and why adolescents found the COVID-19 pandemic a difficult time, how they found enjoyment, and some of the ways they benefitted from the changing environment. In addition to this, this work adds further evidence to the call for social media literacy lessons in schools, and extends this by highlighting the importance of starting these lessons in primary school. Finally, this body of work also adds evidence for examining the collective impact of SNS when exploring their potential impact on individuals.

The initial study (Chapter 4) furthered current literature by examining SNS use and wellbeing in boys and girls aged 10 – 11 years old (N = 199). The cross-sectional study highlighted a number of novel findings including that preadolescents aged 10-11 years old are frequently engaging with SNS, spending on average nearly two hours per day, and that by this age, there are already negative associations between aspects of general SNS use and wellbeing and psychosocial functioning, and positive associations between SNS use and body image concerns. The results highlight the need to focus research attention on preadolescent SNS use, and the importance of further exploring these relationships so interventions can be created to target the key mechanisms in these associations.

These findings were built on in the following study (Chapter 5), which extended the findings to a larger and older sample of 1,295 adolescents aged 11 – 15 years old. The previous study was expanded by testing mediators and moderators for the relationship between SNS use and body image, wellbeing, and psychosocial functioning. Peer comparison was found to mediate the relationship between SNS use and wellbeing for boys and girls, and perceived social norms were found to mediate the relationship between SNS use and psychosocial functioning for boys and girls. Finally, body surveillance was found to mediate the relationship between SNS use and body image concerns for boys and girls, and photo manipulation was also found to moderate this pathway for boys. These novel findings have built on previous evidence by testing the associations in a younger sample, and extending these findings to boys.

Following this research, Chapter 6 qualitatively explored adolescents’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with their use of SNS during this time. Adolescents aged 12-15 years old (N = 30) took part in a fully-structured online survey or a semi-structured one-to-one virtual interview. The thematic analysis produced novel findings in relation to adolescents’ experience of this time, providing in-depth accounts of how and why adolescents found it difficult to adjust to the pandemic and associated lockdown. Adolescents reflected on a number of positives of using SNS during the pandemic, for example the ability to connect with others and learn new skills and hobbies, yet they also reflected on a number of negative implications which made this time more challenging, for example noticing increased appearance related content and the way this impacted their own view of their body. The results support the implementation of social media literacy techniques, highlighting adolescents’ experiences of utilising their learning from media literacy lessons, and also suggest some of the areas adolescents may need further support as they move out of the pandemic.

Finally, Chapter 7 assessed adolescent experiences of SNS use and the associations between body image, wellbeing, and psychosocial functioning at two distinct timepoints; pre-COVID-19, and during COVID-19. This study (N = 365) aimed to further explore how SNS use is associated with body image concerns, wellbeing, and psychosocial functioning by quantitatively exploring the experiences of adolescents aged 11 – 16 over two distinct timepoints. The results demonstrated novel yet mixed findings regarding the impact of COVID-19 on adolescents, with internalisation of muscular ideals increasing over time for boys, whereas drive for thinness decreased over time for boys. Findings for girls were mixed, with loneliness increasing over time, but negative affect decreasing, highlighting the complexity of this time for adolescents. Additionally, the models that were tested in Chapter 5 were retested, although these models remained relatively stable over the two timepoints these findings highlighted some of the ways these relationships vary during different social environments, in general there were stronger mediation effects at Time 2 (during COVID-19), compared to Time 1.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 8, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 19, 2023
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9850274
• Award Date: Apr 19, 2023