Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-14-2023
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Sarah Bilsky
Second Advisor
Laura Dixon
Third Advisor
Ellen Ossorio
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Adolescents spend a large amount of time on social media sites. This is notable, as adolescence is a crucial time for body image development. Additionally, recent findings suggest that using image-oriented social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, is associated with more body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Among previous studies, certain social media motivations have been found to have an association with poor body satisfaction and well-being in adolescents. To our knowledge, no studies have directly examined the association between social media motivations and eating disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, and anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescents. The current study was designed to examine these associations among 407 adolescents (n = 174 boys, n = 189 girls, n = 42 non-binary, and n = 2 prefer not to say) between the ages of 12 and 18 years (Mage = 15.99; SD = 1.44). Participants were recruited using social media platforms (i.e., Facebook) to complete a set of surveys. Partially consistent with hypotheses, results of the study suggested escapism and passing time motives were related to eating disorders symptoms, and escapism and appearance feedback motives were related to body dysmorphia symptoms. Escape, passing time, and appearance feedback motives were all related to anxiety symptoms, and escape and passing time motives were related to depression symptoms. Collectively, these findings lay the foundation for future research focused on improving our understanding of the effects of social media usage on eating disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, and anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescents.
Recommended Citation
Melvin, Kaylan, "The Associations Between Adolescent Motives for Social Media Use with Body Dysmorphia, Eating Disorder, and Anxiety and Depression Symptoms" (2023). Honors Theses. 2872.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2872
Accessibility Status
Searchable text
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons, Mental Disorders Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons