Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

All Outputs (73)

A brief mindfulness meditation can ameliorate the effects of exposure to idealised social media images on self-esteem, mood, and body appreciation in young women: An online randomised controlled experiment (2024)
Journal Article
Hooper, R., Guest, E., Ramsay-Wade, C., & Slater, A. (in press). A brief mindfulness meditation can ameliorate the effects of exposure to idealised social media images on self-esteem, mood, and body appreciation in young women: An online randomised controlled experiment. Body Image,

The study examined whether a 10-minute mindfulness meditation intervention could ameliorate effects of exposure to social media thinspiration and fitspiration images on women’s self-esteem, mood, and body appreciation. A total of 162 women aged 18-42... Read More about A brief mindfulness meditation can ameliorate the effects of exposure to idealised social media images on self-esteem, mood, and body appreciation in young women: An online randomised controlled experiment.

Can following body positive or appearance neutral Facebook pages improve young women's body image and mood? Testing novel social media micro-interventions (2023)
Journal Article
Fardouly, J., Slater, A., Parnell, J., & Diedrichs, P. C. (2023). Can following body positive or appearance neutral Facebook pages improve young women's body image and mood? Testing novel social media micro-interventions. Body Image, 44, 136-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.12.008

Small changes to social media use could have a large impact across the population. The present study tested novel social media micro-interventions (i.e., brief content delivered in everyday life) in which young women (N = 159) were instructed to eith... Read More about Can following body positive or appearance neutral Facebook pages improve young women's body image and mood? Testing novel social media micro-interventions.

Imagery versus captions: The effect of body positive Instagram content on young women's mood and body image (2022)
Journal Article
Cowles, E., Guest, E., & Slater, A. (2023). Imagery versus captions: The effect of body positive Instagram content on young women's mood and body image. Body Image, 44, 120-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.12.004

Body positive social media content aims to positively impact young women's body image and mood by challenging traditionally narrow beauty ideals. This online experiment investigated the effect of viewing body positive Instagram posts on young women's... Read More about Imagery versus captions: The effect of body positive Instagram content on young women's mood and body image.

Exploring teachers’ perceptions of promoting acceptance of diverse appearances in primary school children (4-11 years) (2022)
Presentation / Conference
Parnell, J., Williamson, H., Lewis, F., & Slater, A. (2022, June). Exploring teachers’ perceptions of promoting acceptance of diverse appearances in primary school children (4-11 years). Presented at Division of Health Psychology Annual Conference 2022, Bristol

Objectives and design: Research suggests children can begin judging others based on their appearance as early as 4 years old. Stigma towards children who have a diverse appearance (e.g., higher weight, visible difference) can have a negative impact o... Read More about Exploring teachers’ perceptions of promoting acceptance of diverse appearances in primary school children (4-11 years).

The impact of completing body image assessments on adolescents’ body image and engagement in body change strategies: Harmful or harmless? (2021)
Journal Article
Jarman, H., Slater, A., McLean, S., Marques, M., & Paxton, S. (2021). The impact of completing body image assessments on adolescents’ body image and engagement in body change strategies: Harmful or harmless?. Body Image, 39, 131-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.07.003

Parents and educators have raised concerns that participating in body image research may cause or increase poor body image and engagement in body change strategies. This quasi-experimental study compared body image and body change strategy outcomes a... Read More about The impact of completing body image assessments on adolescents’ body image and engagement in body change strategies: Harmful or harmless?.

Clinically significant body dissatisfaction: Prevalence and association with depressive symptoms in adolescent boys and girls (2021)
Journal Article
McLean, S. A., Rodgers, R. F., Slater, A., Jarman, H. K., Gordon, C. S., & Paxton, S. J. (2022). Clinically significant body dissatisfaction: Prevalence and association with depressive symptoms in adolescent boys and girls. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 1921–1932. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-021-01824-4

Body dissatisfaction is distressing and a risk factor for adverse consequences including eating disorders. However, data pertaining to the prevalence of body dissatisfaction in adolescence, a key period for its emergence, are lacking. This is a subst... Read More about Clinically significant body dissatisfaction: Prevalence and association with depressive symptoms in adolescent boys and girls.

Motivations for social media use: Associations with social media engagement and body satisfaction and well-being among adolescents (2021)
Journal Article
Jarman, H. K., Marques, M. D., McLean, S. A., Slater, A., & Paxton, S. J. (2021). Motivations for social media use: Associations with social media engagement and body satisfaction and well-being among adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50, 2279–2293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01390-z

Adolescents are spending considerable time on social media, yet it is unclear whether motivations for social media use drive different forms of social media engagement, and their relationships with body satisfaction and well-being. This study tested... Read More about Motivations for social media use: Associations with social media engagement and body satisfaction and well-being among adolescents.

Children’s attitudes and friendship behaviours towards socially stigmatised appearances: Do attitudes vary according to type of difference? (2021)
Journal Article
Parnell, J., Williamson, H., Lewis, F., & Slater, A. (2021). Children’s attitudes and friendship behaviours towards socially stigmatised appearances: Do attitudes vary according to type of difference?. Stigma and Health, 6(3), 344-353. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000287

Appearance-based stereotyping and stigma emerge in early childhood and can exist by the age of 4 years. Children from stigmatized groups (e.g., higher weight and visible difference) are at increased risk of experiencing judgment and unwanted behavior... Read More about Children’s attitudes and friendship behaviours towards socially stigmatised appearances: Do attitudes vary according to type of difference?.

Body dissatisfaction predicts the onset of depression among adolescent females and males: A prospective study (2020)
Journal Article
Bornioli, A., Lewis-Smith, H., Slater, A., & Bray, I. (2021). Body dissatisfaction predicts the onset of depression among adolescent females and males: A prospective study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 75(4), 343-348. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2019-213033

Rationale: Body dissatisfaction is prevalent in mid-adolescence and may be associated with the onset of depression. Objective: The study assessed the influence of body dissatisfaction on the occurrence of later depressive episodes in a population-bas... Read More about Body dissatisfaction predicts the onset of depression among adolescent females and males: A prospective study.

Social media, body satisfaction and well-being among adolescents: A mediation model of appearance-ideal internalization and comparison (2020)
Journal Article
Jarman, H. K., Marques, M. D., McLean, S. A., Slater, A., & Paxton, S. J. (2021). Social media, body satisfaction and well-being among adolescents: A mediation model of appearance-ideal internalization and comparison. Body Image, 36, 139-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.11.005

Despite adolescents’ prolific use of social media, relationships between social media and body satisfaction and well-being are not yet well understood, especially among boys. This study tested a sociocultural model of body image within the context of... Read More about Social media, body satisfaction and well-being among adolescents: A mediation model of appearance-ideal internalization and comparison.

The effects of fitspiration images on body attributes, mood and eating behaviors: An experimental Ecological Momentary Assessment study in females (2020)
Journal Article
Krug, I., Selvaraja, P., Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M., Hughes, E. K., Slater, A., Griffiths, S., …Blake, K. (2020). The effects of fitspiration images on body attributes, mood and eating behaviors: An experimental Ecological Momentary Assessment study in females. Body Image, 35, 279-287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.09.011

Through an experimental Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) design, we assessed the effects of fitspiration images (relative to neutral) on body image, mood and disordered eating and whether trait body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization an... Read More about The effects of fitspiration images on body attributes, mood and eating behaviors: An experimental Ecological Momentary Assessment study in females.

‘Everybody’s Different: The Appearance Game’. A randomised controlled trial evaluating an appearance-related board game intervention with children aged 9-11 years (2020)
Journal Article
Jarman, H., Guest, E., Hannah, J., Sharratt, N., Williamson, H., White, P., …Slater, A. (2021). ‘Everybody’s Different: The Appearance Game’. A randomised controlled trial evaluating an appearance-related board game intervention with children aged 9-11 years. Body Image, 36, 34-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.09.010

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an educational board game aimed at increasing knowledge of appearance-related issues, positive body image, media literacy, and acceptance of appearance diversity with British school children. Two hundred and... Read More about ‘Everybody’s Different: The Appearance Game’. A randomised controlled trial evaluating an appearance-related board game intervention with children aged 9-11 years.

Development and validation of the Motivations for Social Media Use scale (MSMU) among adolescents (2020)
Journal Article
Rodgers, R. F., Mclean, S. A., Gordon, C. S., Slater, A., Marques, M. D., Jarman, H. K., & Paxton, S. J. (2021). Development and validation of the Motivations for Social Media Use scale (MSMU) among adolescents. Adolescent Research Review, 6, 425–435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-020-00139-w

Theoretical accounts of the relationship between social media use and body image among adolescents have highlighted motivations as an important factor. However, motivations for social media use has received little attention in extant research in the... Read More about Development and validation of the Motivations for Social Media Use scale (MSMU) among adolescents.

Prospective pathways to depressive symptoms and disordered eating in adolescence: A 7-year longitudinal cohort study (2020)
Journal Article
Lewis-Smith, H., Bray, I., Salmon, D., & Slater, A. (2020). Prospective pathways to depressive symptoms and disordered eating in adolescence: A 7-year longitudinal cohort study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49(10), 2060-2074. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01291-1

Eating pathology and depressive symptoms increase during adolescence, yet predictive pathways remain predominantly unexplored, despite their implications for prevention. The present study aimed to identify shared risk factors for eating pathology and... Read More about Prospective pathways to depressive symptoms and disordered eating in adolescence: A 7-year longitudinal cohort study.

The case for body positivity on social media: Perspectives on current advances and future directions (2020)
Journal Article
Cohen, R., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A. (2021). The case for body positivity on social media: Perspectives on current advances and future directions. Journal of Health Psychology, 26(13), 2365-2373. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320912450

In recent years, the body positive movement has emerged on social media and has generated both support and criticism in pop-cultural discourse. We review the potential benefits and disadvantages of ‘body positivity’ on social media in light of theory... Read More about The case for body positivity on social media: Perspectives on current advances and future directions.

A cluster randomized controlled trial of the SoMe social media literacy body image and wellbeing program for adolescent boys and girls: Study protocol (2020)
Journal Article
Gordon, C. S., Rodgers, R. F., Slater, A. E., McLean, S. A., Jarman, H. K., & Paxton, S. J. (2020). A cluster randomized controlled trial of the SoMe social media literacy body image and wellbeing program for adolescent boys and girls: Study protocol. Body Image, 33, 27-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.003

Youth spend substantial time on social media, which can foster self-critical processes that increase risk of body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and depressed mood. To date, there have been few investigations of interventions to decrease the neg... Read More about A cluster randomized controlled trial of the SoMe social media literacy body image and wellbeing program for adolescent boys and girls: Study protocol.

A biopsychosocial model of social media use and body image concerns, disordered eating, and muscle-building behaviors among adolescent girls and boys (2020)
Journal Article
Rodgers, R. F., Slater, A., Gordon, C. S., McLean, S. A., Jarman, H. K., & Paxton, S. J. (in press). A biopsychosocial model of social media use and body image concerns, disordered eating, and muscle-building behaviors among adolescent girls and boys. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01190-0

Social media use is associated with body image concerns, disordered eating and body change behaviors in adolescents. This study aimed to examine these relationships within a biopsychosocial framework and test an integrated model. A sample of 681 adol... Read More about A biopsychosocial model of social media use and body image concerns, disordered eating, and muscle-building behaviors among adolescent girls and boys.

Looking to the future: Priorities for translating research to impact in the field of appearance and body image (2019)
Journal Article
Jankowski, G. S., Alleva, J. M., Atkinson, M., Stock, N., Piran, N., Riley, S., …Williamson, H. (2020). Looking to the future: Priorities for translating research to impact in the field of appearance and body image. Body Image, 32, 53-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.10.006

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd The field of body image and appearance research and practice is progressing; however, there is still work to be done to ensure broad societal impact. This article consolidates reflections from a range of established and early care... Read More about Looking to the future: Priorities for translating research to impact in the field of appearance and body image.

Adolescent body dissatisfaction and disordered eating: Predictors of later risky health behaviours (2019)
Journal Article
Bornioli, A., Lewis-Smith, H., Smith, A., Slater, A., & Bray, I. (2019). Adolescent body dissatisfaction and disordered eating: Predictors of later risky health behaviours. Social Science and Medicine, 238, Article 112458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112458

Rationale Body dissatisfaction is prevalent among teenagers, and may influence the uptake of risky health behaviours. Objective The study assessed the influence of body dissatisfaction on smoking, cannabis use, drug use, self-harm, gambling, and... Read More about Adolescent body dissatisfaction and disordered eating: Predictors of later risky health behaviours.

Understanding attitudes and friendship behaviours towards socially stigmatised appearances in children aged 4-10 years (2019)
Presentation / Conference
Parnell, J., Williamson, H., Lewis, F., & Slater, A. (2019, July). Understanding attitudes and friendship behaviours towards socially stigmatised appearances in children aged 4-10 years. Presented at UWE Postgraduate Conference, Bristol

Background: Appearance-based stereotyping and prejudice emerges in early childhood, and can exist by the age of 4 years. Children from negatively stereotyped or stigmatised groups (e.g., higher weight, visible difference) are at increased risk of exp... Read More about Understanding attitudes and friendship behaviours towards socially stigmatised appearances in children aged 4-10 years.