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The Perfect Storm: A Developmental–Sociocultural Framework for the Role of Social Media in Adolescent Girls’ Body Image Concerns and Mental Health
Open accessAbstract
In this theoretical review paper, we provide a developmental–sociocultural framework for the role of social media (SM) in contributing to adolescent girls’ body image concerns, and in turn, depressive symptoms and disordered eating. We propose that the features of SM (e.g., idealized images of peers, quantifiable feedback) intersect with adolescent developmental factors (e.g., salience of peer relationships) and sociocultural gender socialization processes (e.g., societal over-emphasis on girls’ and women’s physical appearance) to create the “perfect storm” for exacerbating girls’ body image concerns. We argue that, ultimately, body image concerns may be a key mechanism underlying associations between adolescent girls’ SM use and mental health. In the context of proposing this framework, we provide empirical evidence for how SM may increase adolescent girls’ body image concerns through heightening their focus on: (1) other people’s physical appearance (e.g., through exposure to idealized images of peers, celebrities, and SM influencers; quantifiable indicators of approval); and (2) their own appearance (e.g., through appearance-related SM consciousness; exposure to one’s own image; encouraging over-valuing of appearance; and peer approval of photos/videos). Our framework highlights new avenues for future research on adolescent girls’ SM use and mental health, which recognize the central role of body image.
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“Unlike celebrities and models in traditional media, images on social media may appear as realistic targets of comparison, encouraging adolescents to engage in appearance comparisons with highly-idealized photos that can negatively impact their body image (see Choukas-Bradley et al., 2021).”
From Incorporating social media and muscular ideal internalization into the tripartite influence model of body image: Towards a modern understanding of adolescent girls’ body dissatisfaction (2022) · cites this paper as Choukas-Bradley et al., 2021
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Mechanisms linking social media use to adolescent mental health vulnerability
Orben, A., Meier, A., Dalgleish, T., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2024) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-024-00307-y · Cited by 220
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Roberts, S. R., Maheux, A. J., Hunt, R. A., Ladd, B. A., & Choukas-Bradley, S. (2022) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.03.002 · Cited by 154
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Metadata
- Authors
- Choukas-Bradley, S., Roberts, S. R., Maheux, A. J., & Nesi, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Delaware (US)
- Brown University (US)
- Venue
- Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review
- Publisher
- Center for Open Science
- Published
- 2021-03-18
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 681-701
- ISSN
- 1096-4037 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9287711
- OpenAlex
- W4285588124
- Cited by
- 331
- References
- 202
- Citations by year
- 2026: 85 · 2025: 101 · 2024: 96 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 15
- FWCI
- 10.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1940700)
- National Institutes of Health (5k23mh122669-05)
- National Institute of Mental Health (K23 MH122669)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
- Keywords
- social media, adolescent girls, body image concern, depressive symptoms, disordered eating, gender socialization, peer influence, idealized images, peer approval, mental health, sociocultural factors
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Body Image, Female, Humans, Mental Health, Peer Group, Self Concept, Social Media
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