Relationship of health-related social media content consumption and sociocultural pressures to be thin among young girls in Mediterranean Croatia

Autor: Blažev, Divna, Blažev, Mirta, Dević, Ivan, Lauri Korajlija, Anita
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Popis: There is a lot of evidence in previous research that media and peers can contribute to feeling pressure to achieve certain body standards which leads to body dissatisfaction. This is especially alarming in today’s internet-based society where such content is available every moment on our smartphones. Nowadays young girls spend a lot of time on social media that facilitates interaction with peers and others, and which is full of content on how to achieve being thin and fit through healthy eating lifestyle. Consumption of such content can lead to feeling pressure from media and peers in order to achieve those body standards and eating lifestyle. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between health-related social media content consumption and perceived peer and media pressures to be thin among young girls in Mediterranean Croatia. Participants were 352 young girls aged 18 to 21 years old from Mediterranean Croatia. Data were collected through April and May of 2021 with online questionnaire that was administered to participants through social media platforms. Participants filled out questions regarding different social media platform usage habits (e.g., types of social media platforms they mostly follow, frequency of health-related social media content consumption etc.) and Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ- 4) that measured perceived peer and media pressure to be thin. Results indicate that young girls are dominantly using Instagram as a platform for following health-related social media content. Also, health-related social media content was positively and moderately correlated with perceived sociocultural pressures to be thin. Given results present new evidence on young girl’s engagement with health-related social media content and its relationship with feelings of sociocultural pressures to be thin. Results emphasize the need to further explore potential negative impact of health-related social media content on young girl’s body image attitudes.
Databáze: OpenAIRE