Social media use and body image issues among adolescents in a vulnerable Louisiana community
Open accessAbstract
Widespread concern has been expressed regarding unrealistic body image and adolescent eating disorder promoting content on social media (SM) platforms. Numerous research studies have examined the impact of SM on body image as well as social vulnerability on negative mental health outcomes. Despite this, few previous studies have examined the impact of SM on body image specifically in vulnerable, underserved, or predominantly minority communities. This study examines the impact of SM on body image issues (BII) in adolescents in a public school system where greater than 50% of the students live in impoverished households. In late 2019, high school student leaders in Northwest Louisiana developed a survey alongside Step Forward, a collective impact initiative. Questions investigated adolescent SM use and mental health in Caddo Parish, namely BII. Teachers within Caddo Parish Public School System administered the survey. Out of the 11,248 total high school students in the school system, nearly 50% were sampled for a sample size of 5,070. Hypotheses included: (1) females were more likely to use SM than males, (2) increasing time spent on SM would correlate with females reporting BII, with males remaining largely unaffected, and (3) highly visual social media (HVSM) platforms would be associated with greater reports of BII than non-HVSM platforms. Results showed females were more likely to use SM (p < 0.001) and report BII (p < 0.001) compared to males, while both sexes reported BII with increasing time spent on SM (p < 0.001). A diversity of platforms were associated with increased BII among SM users compared to non-users (p < 0.001): Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. This conclusion is tempered by the omission of race as a variable in the study design, the use of self-report, and the use of an unvalidated instrument. These findings suggest that the harmful association between SM use and BII may transcend culture and socioeconomic status for a broadly deleterious effect on adolescent mental wellbeing.
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Ten studies differentiated the population between active and passive users, while only one conducted a content analysis of posts, hashtags, or videos.
“Given that, ten studies differentiated the population between active and passive users [42, 67, 70, 72, 74–79], while only one conducted a content analysis of the posts, hashtags, or videos [78].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [70]
The citation to this paper is attached to the claim that one study conducted content analysis of posts, hashtags, or videos. Its Materials and methods (Data collection and Statistical analysis; page unavailable) instead describe a cross-sectional analysis of a student survey using statistical tests and logistic regression. The paper also does not report differentiating active from passive users. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAmong included studies, only four reported data about total daily screen time, and four detailed the amount of time spent on TikTok.
“Among the included studies, only four reported data about total daily screen time [67–70], and four detailed the amount the time spent on TikTok [42, 67, 71, 72].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [70]
In Results (Hypothesis 2; page unavailable), the paper reports daily time spent on social media, but not total daily screen time. Its TikTok tables report whether participants used TikTok, not how long they spent on it. This paper also cannot establish the citing review’s counts of four studies in each category. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe analyzed effects of TikTok use included increased body image concerns and self-esteem issues.
“The analyzed effects encompassed lower life satisfaction [79], increased depressive symptoms [68], higher levels of anger and loneliness [72], risk of PTU [69, 83, 84], increased body image concerns, and self-esteem issues [42, 70, 80], as well as the rapid spreading of functional tic-like behaviors [76, 77].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [70]
The Results (Hypothesis 2, Table 3) associate TikTok use with higher odds of self-reported body image issues, and the Discussion describes a statistically significant association. The paper does not report a TikTok-specific self-esteem outcome, and its observational association does not establish that TikTok caused the increase. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredFour of the included studies assessed wellbeing indicators, like creativity, innovation, life satisfaction, and health habits, while sixteen assessed mental disorder indicators such as depression, anxiety, stress or body image issues.
“Four of the studies [68, 75, 79, 80] assessed wellbeing indicators, like creativity, innovation, life satisfaction, and health habits, while sixteen assessed mental disorder indicators such as depression, anxiety, stress or body image issues [42, 67, 68, 70–73, 76–79, 81–85].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [70]
Eleven studies used self-developed questionnaires for outcome evaluation, of which only six paired it with standardized measures.
“Eleven studies used self-developed questionnaires for outcome evaluation [42, 67–72, 74, 80–82], of which only six paired it with standardized measures [67–69, 71, 72, 80, 81].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [70]
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Conte, G., Iorio, G. D., Esposito, D., Romano, S., Panvino, F., Maggi, S., Altomonte, B., Casini, M. P., Ferrara, M., & Terrinoni, A. (2025) · European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s00787-024-02581-w · Cited by 84 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Sagrera, C. E., Magner, J., Temple, J., Lawrence, R., Magner, T. J., Avila-Quintero, V. J., McPherson, P., Alderman, L. L., Bhuiyan, M. A. N., Patterson, J. C., & Murnane, K. S.
- Affiliations
- Louisiana State University (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sagrera, Caroline E.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2022-11-03
- Volume
- 13
- Pages
- 1001336-1001336
- ISSN
- 1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9669337
- OpenAlex
- W4308417186
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 9
- FWCI
- 6.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Louisiana State University
- 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 use, adolescents, eating disorders, high school students, socioeconomic vulnerability, minority groups, gender differences, adolescent mental health
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