TY - JOUR
T1 - Engagement with social media content results in lower appearance satisfaction: An experience sampling study using a wrist-worn wearable and a physical analogue scale
AU - Stieger, Stefan
AU - Graf, Hannah M.
AU - Riegler, Stella P.
AU - Biebl, Sophie
AU - Swami, Viren
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, grant number P31800-N38.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Social media use is consistently associated with more negative body image, but much of this literature is cross-sectional and/or lacks ecological validity. To overcome these limitations, we examined associations between everyday social media engagement and appearance satisfaction using an experience sampling method. Fifty participants from Central Europe completed a 14-day experience sampling phase in which they reported their appearance satisfaction at two random time-points each day, as well as following active engagement with social media content, using a wrist-worn wearable and a physical analogue scale (PAS; i.e., angle of a participant's forearm between flat and fully upright as a continuous response scale). Results indicated that engagement with social media content was significantly associated with lower appearance satisfaction. Additionally, we found that engagement with the content of known others was associated with significantly lower appearance satisfaction than engagement with the content of unknown others. These effects were stable even after controlling for participant demographics, active vs. passive daily social media use, and body image-related factors. These results provide evidence that everyday social media engagement is associated with lower appearance satisfaction and additionally provides preliminary support for the use of a PAS in body image research using an experience sampling method.
AB - Social media use is consistently associated with more negative body image, but much of this literature is cross-sectional and/or lacks ecological validity. To overcome these limitations, we examined associations between everyday social media engagement and appearance satisfaction using an experience sampling method. Fifty participants from Central Europe completed a 14-day experience sampling phase in which they reported their appearance satisfaction at two random time-points each day, as well as following active engagement with social media content, using a wrist-worn wearable and a physical analogue scale (PAS; i.e., angle of a participant's forearm between flat and fully upright as a continuous response scale). Results indicated that engagement with social media content was significantly associated with lower appearance satisfaction. Additionally, we found that engagement with the content of known others was associated with significantly lower appearance satisfaction than engagement with the content of unknown others. These effects were stable even after controlling for participant demographics, active vs. passive daily social media use, and body image-related factors. These results provide evidence that everyday social media engagement is associated with lower appearance satisfaction and additionally provides preliminary support for the use of a PAS in body image research using an experience sampling method.
KW - Appearance satisfaction
KW - Experience sampling method
KW - Physical analogue scale
KW - Social media
KW - Wearable
KW - Cross-Sectional Studies
KW - Social Media
KW - Humans
KW - Wearable Electronic Devices
KW - Ecological Momentary Assessment
KW - Personal Satisfaction
KW - Wrist
KW - Body Image/psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139223654&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.09.009
DO - 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.09.009
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36201860
SN - 1740-1445
VL - 43
SP - 232
EP - 243
JO - Body Image
JF - Body Image
ER -