Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine (2023), 40, 31–42. © The Author(s), 2020.

0. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The College of

Psychiatrists of Ireland ORIGINAL RESEARCH
doi:10.1017/ipm.2020.93

Social comparisons on social media: online

appearance-related activity and body dissatisfaction in
adolescent girls

M. Scully, L. Swords* and E. Nixon

School of Psychology and Trinity Research in Childhood Centre, Trinity College Dublin

Introduction: Adolescents’ engagement with online social networking platforms is advancing at an exponential rate and research is
needed to investigate any impact on young users’ mental health. This study examined appearance-related activity (e.g. looking at
photos of friends) on social media and body dissatisfaction among adolescent girls.

Methods: Self-report measures of online appearance-related activity, social comparisons to female target groups, internalization of
the thin ideal, body dissatisfaction, and self-esteem were administered to 210 girls (mean age = 15.16 years).

Results: Body dissatisfaction was significantly related to (i) time spent engaged in social comparisons and (ii) upward social
comparisons with various female targets while online. Evaluating oneself less favorably than the target group of close friends
was most strongly associated with poorer body image appraisals. Serial multiple mediation analysis revealed that even after con-
trolling for age and self-esteem, time spent engaged in social comparisons significantly mediated the relationship between online
appearance-related activity and body dissatisfaction. This association was then further partially mediated by internalization of the
thin ideal, which significantly mediated the relationship between time engaged in social comparisons and body dissatisfaction.

Discussion: Results are discussed in terms of online social media platforms representing an additional appearance culture envi-
ronment for adolescent girls. The effects of this on the mental health of vulnerable users and how future research should investigate
protective factors that may buffer young girls from the adverse effects of social media are considered.

Received 07 January 2020; Revised 31 July 2020; Accepted 07 August 2020; First published online 11 September 2020

Key words: Adolescence, appearance-related activity, body dissatisfaction, social comparison, social media.

Introduction contribute to lower levels of body satisfaction in this

vulnerable group is of critical importance for psycho-
Sociocultural models of body dissatisfaction emphasize
logical research in order to improve targeted preven-
the role of the media in the onset, development, and
tion and early intervention endeavors.
maintenance of negative evaluative body image
Recent years have witnessed the proliferation and
(Thompson et al. 1999). While extensive research has
increasing popularity of online social media and net-
examined the effect of more traditional forms of media,
working sites like Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram.
like magazines and TV (e.g. Grabe et al. 2008), less
Mobile devices provide convenient access to the
research has investigated how newer forms of media
Internet to the extent that a recent US report stated that
such as Internet-based social networking sites (SNSs)
45% of adolescents claim they are online ‘almost con-
are impacting upon users’ appraisals of their body size
stantly’ (Pew Research Centre, 2018). Considering these
and shape (Holland & Tiggemann, 2016). Fewer studies
rates of exposure, it is imperative to investigate how
still have investigated this with a focus on adolescent
this new form of media may be contributing to the body
girls, a group more likely to engage in excessive online
image appraisals of adolescent users.
social networking (e.g. Kelly et al. 2019) and report more
Adolescence is a time when identity is being forged.
negative body image evaluations in comparison with
Physical appearance is highly valued to the extent that
male peers (e.g. Jones, 2004; Lawler & Nixon, 2011;
it is the most important predictor of adolescents’ overall
Dooley et al. 2019). Given that body dissatisfaction
self-worth (Harter, 2006). Thinness, for girls, is deemed
has been linked with a range of adverse outcomes,
an advantageous attribute for peer acceptance in a
including the onset of eating disorders (e.g. Stice &
developmental period where the peer group gains sig-
Shaw, 2002), low self-esteem, increased negative affect
nificant saliency and group acceptance is highly impor-
(Stice & Bearman, 2001), and significant emotional dis-
tant (Oliver & Thelen, 1996). Indeed, sociocultural
tress (Johnson & Wardle, 2005), examining factors that
models also highlight how peers play an important role
*Address for correspondence: Lorraine Swords, School of in identifying and reinforcing appearance ideals and
Psychology, Trinity College Dublin (Email: [email protected]) beauty standards (Thompson et al. 1999). Engagement

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 32 M. Scully et al.

in peer appearance conversations and receipt of peer information about the self in order to reduce uncer-
appearance criticism are common everyday inter- tainty and forge their identity (Abrams & Hogg, 1988;
actions among adolescents in many Western cultures Butzer & Kuiper, 2006).
(e.g. Jones et al. 2004; Carey et al. 2010; Lawler & In their systematic review on the impact of SNSs on
Nixon, 2011; Webb et al. 2014; Kierans & Swords, body image and disordered eating outcomes, Holland
2016; Trekels & Eggermont, 2017). In Ireland, adoles- and Tiggemann (2016) suggest that engaging in social
cents have reported being influenced by the appearance comparisons mediated the relationship between time
values and behaviors of their peers (Kierans & Swords, online and body image appraisals. Further to this, in
2016), and peer appearance conversations and criticism their sample of female university students, Fardouly
have been linked with body dissatisfaction, particularly and Vartanian (2015) identified the value of examining
among young girls who have a greater propensity to both the frequency and direction of comparisons, par-
discuss appearance ideals compared with their male ticularly ‘upward comparisons’, where one’s own
counterparts (Lawler & Nixon, 2011). Thus, SNSs appearance is perceived to be less appealing or attrac-
may represent a distinct platform where body dissatis- tive than others. This practice has been associated with
faction levels can be exacerbated due to the strong peer lower self-esteem (Allan & Gilbert, 1995), higher body
presence on the site and the constant stream of photos dissatisfaction rates (Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2001),
and social information that is being perpetuated and disordered eating (Saunders & Eaton, 2018). It
through the newsfeed feature (Perloff, 2014). has been reported that adolescent girls engage in this
While the literature has reported that time spent on behavior more frequently than adolescent boys
SNSs is significantly related to body image concerns (Jones, 2001) with social targets for such comparisons
(Fardouly & Vartanian, 2015; de Vries et al. 2016) and including peers, family members, and celebrities
depressive symptoms (e.g. Kelly et al. 2019), it appears (Krayer et al. 2008). With SNSs like Facebook uploading
that the type of activity engaged in while online is over 350 million pictures to its platform every day
worth further consideration (e.g. Tiggemann & (Social Report, 2018), the Internet offers increased
Miller, 2010; Tiggemann & Slater, 2013). For example, opportunities for adolescent users to engage in social
Meier and Gray (2014) noted how it was not the fre- comparisons. Indeed, it is suggested that individuals
quency or quantity of Facebook use among adolescents who have a high social comparison orientation may
that predicted their levels of body dissatisfaction, but be drawn to these sites for this very reason (Vogel
rather the extent to which adolescents engaged in et al. 2015).
appearance-related activities such as viewing, tagging, Sociocultural models (e.g. Thompson et al. 1999)
or commenting on images of themselves or others. have been tested repeatedly in the literature and have
Similarly, Tiggemann and Miller (2010) found that it received empirical support for their proposition that
was adolescent girls’ engagement with appearance- the media influences body dissatisfaction levels
focused content while online that was associated with through the mediating processes of internalization
crucial mediating mechanisms implicated in the proc- and social comparisons (e.g. Keery et al. 2004). These
esses linking media exposure and body dissatisfaction mediating mechanisms are important for explaining
such as internalization of the thin ideal and social variation in body dissatisfaction rates. For example,
comparisons. Internalization of the thin ideal refers to research has found that although most female adoles-
the degree to which an individual cognitively ‘buys cents are aware of depictions of the ‘thin ideal’ in the
into’ sociocultural ideals, ascribes personal relevance media (Milkie, 1999), the extent to which girls deem
to them, and seeks to pursue these often unattainable them to be personally relevant or attainable varies.
goals (Thompson & Stice, 2001). Thin ideal media have Objectification theories (e.g. Fredrickson & Roberts,
been shown to induce girls’ and women’s internaliza- 1997) have also attempted to explain the effect of the
tion of sociocultural ideals and their propensity toward media on body image appraisals. They propose that
appearance comparisons (Keery et al. 2004). the pervasive promotion of appearance ideals for girls
Social comparisons are at work when individuals and women through media channels induce women
evaluate and determine their personal worth based and girls to relentlessly and self-consciously monitor
on perceptions of how they measure up to others across and compare their bodies’ external appearance and
a range of domains Thompson and Stice (2001). internalize how they expect others to perceive them,
Festinger’s Social Comparison Theory (1954) proposes a process termed as ‘self-objectification.’
that individuals increase rates of social comparisons
when they are unsure of themselves. This aspect of
The present study
the theory may be particularly relevant for adolescents
who, according to Erikson (1959), are undergoing an When exposed to media portrayals of the thin ideal,
‘identity crisis’ and may turn to peers to obtain social body surveillance, or the monitoring of outward

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 Social Comparisons on Social Media 33

appearance, and the processes of internalization and engage in activities such as live chat or video streaming,
social comparisons are argued to underlie higher levels playing games, posting comments or photographs,
of body dissatisfaction. Although there has been a pro- or sharing links to content deemed interesting.
liferation of studies examining the effects of social Obviously, many of these activities are not related to
media usage on body image with young adults in recent physical appearance. As such, this study also aims to
years, adolescents have not been afforded the same ascertain among a sample of adolescent girls if there
attention within the literature (Holland & Tiggemann, is an association between appearance-related activities,
2016). These populations, from sequential – but differ- specifically, and body dissatisfaction. It draws upon
ent – periods of the life course, should not be assumed sociocultural and objectification models of body dissat-
to be the same in terms of psychological processes and isfaction to examine social comparisons and internali-
outcomes. Self-esteem, for example, has been shown to zation of the thin ideal as significant mediating
decline during adolescence (Robins & Trzesniewski, mechanisms.
2005) but to increase gradually during emerging adult- Participant age and self-esteem, the attitude one has
hood (Chung et al. 2014). Furthermore, the popularity of toward the self, also referred to as self-worth or self-
SNSs among adolescent girls (e.g. Kelly et al. 2019) who image (Rosenberg, 1965), will be controlled for as
are a group already noted to have widespread dissatis- possible confounding variables. During adolescence,
faction with their body shape and weight (e.g. Dooley self-esteem and body image judgments are rapidly
et al. 2019) is particularly concerning. More work is developing and fluctuating, with researchers highlight-
needed to examine the processes at work. ing the inextricable link between the two (Harter, 2006;
In the present study, Facebook is the SNS in focus. van den Berg et al. 2010). In addition, various research
Facebook is the most popular social network in the studies with samples of adolescents or young people
world (Statista, 2019a) and is one of the most used have found self-esteem to have varying mediating and
among teenagers, such that a majority of adolescents moderating roles in explaining sociocultural influences
across the US and UK are active members (Pew on body dissatisfaction (e.g. Stice & Whitenton, 2002;
Research Centre, 2018; Ofcom, 2019). As adolescent De Sousa et al. 2014; Ahadzadeh, Sharif, & Ong, 2017).
girls use social media sites, particularly those like It appears that low self-esteem may contribute to girls’
Facebook that are visually oriented, more than their engagement in body comparisons and heighten levels
male counterparts (Pew Research Center, 2018), these of internalization, and other processes that increase
sites may be acting as a unique platform for social com- vulnerability to body dissatisfaction (e.g. Durkin &
parisons with the female peer group. Paxton, 2002; Caqueo-Urízar et al. 2011). Of course, it
Research has found that exposure to peers who may also be the case that self-esteem is also influenced
closely typify the thin ideal heightens body dissatisfac- by exposure to media portrayals of the thin ideal, com-
tion levels in young women (Krones et al. 2005). Social parisons, and internalization and body dissatisfaction.
comparisons to peers rather than celebrities may afford Thus, controlling for a possible confounding variable
different outcomes for body image concerns as peer such as self-esteem reduces threats to the validity of
appearances may be evaluated as being more moderate inferences that may be made about associations from
and personally attainable due to peers’ similar lifestyles the mediation analysis.
and resources (Mussweiler, 2003). Furthermore, In summary, the following two research hypotheses
because users present idealized depictions of them- were proposed: (1) there will be a positive association
selves online, this behavior may be distorting the reality between body dissatisfaction and adolescents’ fre-
from which actual comparisons stem (Feinstein et al. quency and favorability (i.e. direction) of comparisons
2013). The first aim of the present study is thus to to proximal (e.g. close friends) and distal (e.g. celeb-
explore participants’ reports of social comparisons with rities) female targets on SNSs like Facebook and
proximal (e.g. close friends and family) and more distal (2) Social comparisons and internalization of the thin
(e.g. celebrity) female targets. Comparisons will be ideal will mediate associations between online appear-
assessed in terms of both frequency and favorability, ance-related activity and body dissatisfaction (while
where the appearance of others is perceived to be more controlling for age and self-esteem).
appealing than one’s own. Associations with reported
body dissatisfaction will also be examined.
It also appears that measuring total time spent on Methods
SNSs, which does not account for how this time is spent,
Participants
is less informative than specifically measuring time
spent engaging in appearance-related activities while Participants (n = 210) were female students aged
logged on. For example, members of Facebook can between 12 and 17 years (M = 15.16, SD = 1.17) from
access a wide range of features that allow them to three second-level schools in Ireland (one single-sex

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 34 M. Scully et al.

school, one fee-paying school, and one located in an toned bodies are more attractive’. Scores can range from
urban area. None were identified as being in receipt 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher levels of
of government support to tackle social or educational internalization and lower scores on the scale indicating
disadvantage). All participants had completed at least lower levels of internalization. Internal consistency
8 years of formal education. reliability in the present study was high (Cronbach’s
α = .90).
Materials
Appearance exposure Body dissatisfaction

The eight-item Photo Subscale devised by Meier Using a 6-point response scale (0 = never, 5 = always),
and Gray (2014) was used to determine how often participants completed the nine-item Body
participants engage in appearance-related activities Dissatisfaction Subscale of the Eating Disorder
(e.g. ‘update your profile photo’ or ‘view friends’ pho- Inventory (Garner et al. 1983) to rate statements about
tos of themselves’) while on Facebook. Participants their body image. Scores can range from 0 to 45 with
indicated their typical engagement with a photo-related higher scores indicating higher levels of body dissatis-
feature on a 5-point scale ranging from ‘0 = almost never faction. Internal consistency reliability in the present
or never’ to ‘4 = nearly every time I log on’ or ‘4 = more often study was acceptable (Cronbach’s α = .83).
than once a month’, depending on the feature examined.
Scores can range from 0 to 32 with higher scores indicat- Self-esteem
ing higher engagement in appearance-related activities. Self-esteem was assessed using Rosenberg’s Self-
Internal consistency reliability in the present study was Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). Using a 5-point
acceptable (Cronbach’s α = .82). response scale (0 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly
agree), participants rated the extent to which they
Comparisons to specific target groups agreed or disagreed with 10 statements about their
With regard to specific female target groups on self-esteem, such as, ‘On the whole I am satisfied with
Facebook, participants completed items devised by myself’. Scores can range from 0 to 40, with higher
Fardouly and Vartanian (2015) to report the frequency scores on the scale indicating higher levels of self-
with which they make appearance comparisons (‘When esteem. Internal consistency reliability in the present
looking at photos of the following people, how often do study was acceptable (Cronbach’s α = .78).
you compare your body to theirs?’ 0 = never to 4 = very
Procedure
often) and the direction of these appearance compari-
sons (‘When comparing your body to each of the fol- Ethical approval was granted by the School of
lowing people, how do you rate yourself?’ 1 = much Psychology ethics committee within the authors’ uni-
better to 7 = much worse). Higher scores indicated versity. After obtaining consent from school principals,
greater tendencies to engage in social comparisons parent information and consent forms were sent home
and upward comparisons on Facebook, respectively. with students which outlined the objectives of the
The female target groups varied in relational study. Students whose parents signed consent forms
closeness and comprised family members, close friends were then provided with information sheets and assent
(i.e. females you are friends with on Facebook and regu- forms and invited to take part in the study. Parent
larly hang out with), distal peers (i.e. females you know consent response rate was 59% and student assent
on Facebook or otherwise but do not regularly hang out response rate was 100%. Data collection took place in
with), and celebrities (e.g. actors, musicians, and a group setting with a staff member present during
models). Scores obtained for each target group were school hours between December 2015 and January
analyzed separately for both comparison measures. 2016. Upon completion, questionnaires were collected
and all participants were debriefed verbally and in
Internalization of the thin ideal writing.
The Thin-Ideal Internalization Scale has been utilized in
Data analysis
recent studies to measure levels of internalization of the
thin ideal within the female population (e.g. Stice et al. ‘Rule of thumb’ guidelines (e.g. Garver & Mentzer,
2017). Using a 5-point response scale (0 = strongly 1999) proposing a ‘critical sample size’ of 200 for path
disagree to 4 = strongly agree), participants rated the analyses were consulted in advance of data collection.
extent to which they agreed or disagreed with eight Two hundred and ten participants completed the sur-
statements relating to their levels of internalization such vey instrument. Their data were analyzed using the
as ‘Slim women are more attractive’ and ‘Women with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version

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 Social Comparisons on Social Media 35

Table 1. Bivariate and partial correlations between body dissatisfaction and the frequencies and direction of appearance comparisons to
specific target groups

Frequency of body comparisons Upward body comparisons

Family Close friends Distal peers Celebrities Family Close friends Distal peers Celebrities

Body dissatisfaction .313* (.105) .387* (.139) .391* (.089) .404* (.219*) .272* (.053) .470* (.233*) .427* (.145) .339* (.044)

*p < .01.
Figures inside parentheses are partial correlations where the frequency or direction (as applicable) of appearance comparisons to the other target groups was
controlled for.

Table 2. Mean (SD) ratings of the frequencies and directions of appearance comparisons to specific target groups on Facebook

Family Close friends Distal peers Celebrities

Frequency of body comparisons .95 (1.03) 2.17 (1.12) 2.01 (1.14) 2.47 (1.21)
‘When looking at photos of the following people, how often do
you compare your body to theirs?’
0 = never to 4 = very often*
Upward body comparisons 4.18 (.82) 4.74 (1.04) 4.83 (.99) 5.76 (1.46)
‘When comparing your body to each of the following people,
how do you rate yourself?’
1 = much better to 7 = much worse**

*All means are significantly statistically different from each other at p < .001 except for the mean difference between close friends and distal peers which is
significant at p < .05.
**Any mean above 3.5 represents upward comparisons where participants rate their bodies less favorably than the targets’ bodies. Comparisons between
close friends and distal peers are not significantly different from each other (p = .134). All other means are significantly statistically different from each other at
p < .001.

23.0; IBM SPSS, Chicago, IL) and the process computa- Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA)
tion tool for SPSS (Hayes, 2017). Analyses of missing tests revealed that participants’ responses to the differ-
data indicated that no item exceeded a missing rate ent target groups differed significantly with regard to
above 5%. Little’s missing completely at random the time they spent engaging in social comparisons
(MCAR) tests indicated that these items were missing (F(2.845, 591.8) = 131.83, p < 0.001; partial eta squared
completely at random and so scores were imputed .388) and the direction of these comparisons (F(2.154,
employing expectation–maximization algorithm 447.94) = 134.4, p < 0.001; partial eta squared .391). As
(Little & Rubin, 2002). shown in Table 1, adolescent girls most frequently com-
pared their bodies with celebrities followed by close
friends, distal peers, and family. All mean frequency
Results scores were significantly different from each other at
There will be a positive association between body dis- p < .001, except for the mean difference between close
satisfaction and adolescents’ frequency and favorability friends and distal peers which was significant at
of comparisons to proximal (e.g. close friends) and dis- p<.05. Body comparisons were found to all be in an
tal (e.g. celebrities) female targets on Facebook. upward direction, with participants rating their bodies
Table 1 shows how time spent engaged in social least favorably when compared with celebrities, fol-
comparisons with the target groups of family, close lowed by distal peers, close friends, and finally, family.
friends, distal peers, and celebrities on Facebook was Comparisons between close friends and distal peers
significantly correlated with body dissatisfaction in were not significantly different from each other
adolescent girls (all p < .001). Target-specific upward (p = .134). All other means were significantly sta-
comparisons were also significantly associated with tistically different from each other at p < .001.
body dissatisfaction among the sample (all p < .01), Social comparisons and internalization of the thin
most particularly when adolescent girls perceive their ideal will mediate associations between online appear-
appearance as being worse than that of close ance-related activity and body dissatisfaction (while
friends (r = .47). controlling for age and self-esteem).

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 36 M. Scully et al.

.254**

.319*
Age
Hayes’ process formulation for mediational regres-

−.014
.120

.108
−.023
sion (Hayes, 2017) was used to develop a serial multiple

1
mediator model to investigate the hypothesis that fre-
Appearance
quently making social comparisons, upward compari-
activity

.266**
sons, and internalization mediate the relationship

−.044
.007
.115

.013
between Facebook appearance-related activity and

1
body dissatisfaction. Self-esteem and age were added
to the model as covariates so that their influence may
be statistically controlled for when estimating the other
relationships in the model. As body dissatisfaction was
Upward body
comparisons

significantly associated with time spent engaged in

.480*
−.498*
.235*
.487*

1 social comparisons and the direction of these compari-

sons with all target groups, two new variables were
computed for this analysis to represent (i) the average
rating for how often participants reported that they
engaged in social comparisons while on Facebook
across all target groups and (ii) the average rating of
Frequency of body

upward comparisons made while on Facebook with

comparisons

all target groups.

−.330*
.482*

.466*

Table 3 displays the bivariate and partial correla-

1

tions among the values and Fig. 1 displays the proposed

model. Significant paths are denoted with a bold line.
Overall, the model accounted for 39.32% of the
variance in body dissatisfaction levels [R2 = .3932,
F(6, 168) = 18.1406, p < .0001]. The direct effect of
Internalization

Facebook appearance activity on body dissatisfaction

.370*
−.115

was not significant (b = −.1316, SE = .0672, p > .05).

1

However, comparison frequency significantly medi-

ated this relationship so that more appearance activity
was associated with making more social comparisons
esteem

−.418*
Self-

which was in turn associated with greater body dissat-

1

isfaction, resulting in a significant indirect effect

(b = .0697; 95% CI: .0129–.1416). In addition, greater
dissatisfaction

internalization of the thin ideal further mediated the

Body

indirect effect of Facebook appearance-related activity

1

and comparison frequency on body dissatisfaction

Table 3. Descriptive details for, and correlations between, key variables

(b = .0278; 95% CI: .0041–.0597). Other indirect effects

of Facebook appearance-related activity on body dissat-
isfaction were not significant. The strongest predictor of
Achieved

14–37

12–17
range

body dissatisfaction was how frequently participants

5–45

8–39

2–27
0–4

2–7

compared their bodies to those of other girls (b = .2317,

SE = .0845, p < .05). Table 4 contains the model
coefficients.
29.42 (7.52)
26.61 (4.34)
26.57 (5.92)

15.49 (5.08)
15.16 (1.17)
4.87 (.84)
M (SD)

1.9 (.9)

Discussion

The results of this study revealed that adolescent girls’

Upward body comparisons

body dissatisfaction was significantly related to appear-

ance-related activity engaged in while on Facebook.
Appearance activity
Body dissatisfaction

Specifically, body dissatisfaction was significantly

Frequency of body

related to (i) time spent engaged in social comparisons

comparisons
Internalization

and (ii) upward social comparisons with female celeb-

Age (years)
Self-esteem

rities, close friends, peers, and family members while on

Facebook. Evaluating oneself more frequently in
comparison with celebrities and less favorably in

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 Social Comparisons on Social Media 37

Fig 1. Upward body comparisons, frequency of body comparisons, and internalization as mediators in the relationship between
Facebook appearance activity and body dissatisfaction while controlling for self-esteem and age. Standardized path coefficients are
presented. Bold lines indicate significant pathways.
(Total fffect: b = −.0369, SE = .0700, p>.05; Direct effect: b = −.1316, SE = .0672, p>.05; Indirect Effect: XM1Y = .0697, Boot SE = .0323,
95% CI = .0129 to .1416; XM2Y = −.0196, Boot SE = .0216, 95% CI = −.0729–.0075; XM3Y = −.0042, Boot SE = .0143, 95%
CI = −.0339–.0262; XM1M2Y = .0211, Boot SE = .0152, 95% CI = −.0018–.0569; XM1M3Y = .0278, Boot SE = .0142, 95%
CI = .0041–.0597).
*p < .05, **p < .001.

comparison with close friends was most strongly asso- that increased exposure to images of female targets
ciated with poorer body image appraisals. When may instigate increased rates of social comparisons.
responses to all female targets were considered These comparisons highlight discrepancies between
together, time spent engaged in appearance-related one’s own appearance and that of the societal norm
activity on Facebook was not found to be directly asso- or expected standard. If self-evaluations are unfavora-
ciated with body dissatisfaction but had an indirect ble, they may exacerbate body dissatisfaction.
relationship through the mediating mechanism of fre- Importantly, individual levels of internalization may
quent social comparisons and internalization of the thin be a critical underpinning factor in explaining individ-
ideal. Thus, Facebook activities involving the appraisal ual variation in body dissatisfaction.
of one’s own and others’ photographed images were It may be the case that sites like Facebook are a
associated with more frequent social comparisons, medium that exemplify the appearance culture of ado-
and engaging in frequent social comparisons was lescent girls, where users are uploading idealized
related to body dissatisfaction. Furthermore, the rela- depictions of themselves (Feinstein et al. 2013). For
tionship between frequent social comparisons and the first time, these sites afford adolescents the oppor-
body dissatisfaction was also mediated by internalisa- tunity to view images of many other girls on digital
tion of the thin ideal. screens with on-demand access. Furthermore, photo-
graphs can be edited, cropped, and filtered which
The sociocultural environment of SNSs may be elevating the number of photographs that emu-
late idealized versions of beauty for young adolescents.
Jones (2004) describes the ‘appearance culture’ that is
often nurtured during adolescence where girls perceive
Implications and interventions
thinness as being an advantageous attribute for peer
acceptance. This study adds to existing research exam- Body dissatisfaction levels in early adolescence are the
ining appearance culture among young Irish girls (e.g. single best predictor of body dissatisfaction levels in
Lawler & Nixon, 2011; Kierans & Swords, 2015) but late adolescence (Dion et al. 2015). Furthermore, body
extends it to focus on the influence of online SNS. It also dissatisfaction has been characterized as a significant
suggests that appearance-focused activity may indi- component of eating disorder onset, typically during
rectly drive adolescent girls’ body dissatisfaction the late adolescent period, with girls being at greater
through the mechanisms of social comparisons and risk than boys (Rohde et al. 2015). As such, early inter-
internalization of appearance ideals, aligning with vention is of critical importance. Previous literature has
related research in the field (Groesz et al. 2002; Jones, supported the effectiveness of cognitive dissonance
2004; Levine & Harrison, 2009). As such it also supports interventions in reducing levels of internalization and
sociocultural and objectification theories which state body dissatisfaction (e.g. Halliwell & Diedrichs, 2014).

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 38 M. Scully et al.

.0901 (.0901)
.0000 (.0000)
Table 4. Model coefficients for the effect of Facebook appearance activity on body dissatisfaction with frequency of comparisons, upward comparisons, and internalization as mediators and self-esteem and age as

.0000 (.0000)
.8998 (.8998)
Media literacy programs have also elicited positive

R² = .4019 F(4, 170) = 28.5560, p = .0000

p
results in reducing body dissatisfaction levels
(e.g. Watson & Vaughn, 2006). From the current results,

Upward body comparisons

these interventions could be improved upon with the
addition of social media education focusing on the

.0668 (.0111)
.0723 (.0677)

.0667 (.0129)
.0683 (.0489)
‘appearance culture’ being promoted through sites like
SE Facebook. With previous interventions placing greater
emphasis on female adult models that are depicted in
−.1139 (−.0189) the media through advertisements (e.g. Wilksch et al.

−.4077 (−.0790)
−.0086 (−.0062)
.4066 (.3806)
2006; Watson & Vaughn, 2006), future interventions
could focus on adolescent populations and inform
Coeff.

them how peers can present idealized versions of them-

selves on social media platforms (Zhao et al. 2008), by
cropping, editing, and filtering their photographs to
make themselves appear thinner and more attractive.
.7741 (.7741)
.0000 (.0000)

.8027 (.8027)
.5595 (.5595)
R² = .2107 F(4, 170) = 11.3445, p = .0000
p

Limitations and future research

The current study was correlational in design and

therefore causation cannot be implied as other varia-
.0760 (.0885)
.0823 (.5416)

.0759 (.1033)
.0777 (.3913)
Internalization

bles not controlled for may have been influencing the

SE

results obtained. Future research in the area of social

media and body dissatisfaction could adopt experi-
mental designs to investigate whether time spent
engaged in social comparisons on sites like Facebook
−.0218 (−.0254)

−.0454 (−.2288)
.4847 (3.1903)

.0190 (.0259)

are causally linked with levels of body dissatisfaction.

Coeff.

Future research could also examine the transactional

and reciprocal effects of social media. It is uncertain
whether vulnerability factors such as high levels of
covariates. Figures in parentheses represent values related to the unstandardized beta coefficients

internalization or body dissatisfaction predispose indi-

.0000 (.0000)

.0000 (.0000)
.0000 (.0000)

viduals to seek out content that instigates behaviors

such as social comparisons, or whether SNSs such as
R² = .3122 F(3, 171) = 25.8730, p = .0000
p

Facebook cause individuals to engage in such behav-

Frequency of body comparisons

iors due to the features they afford which may heighten

their levels of internalization and body dissatisfaction.
.0668 (.0118)

.0654 (.0135)
.0673 (.0515)

A recent study by Rousseau et al. (2017) with an adoles-

cent population suggests that body dissatisfaction posi-
SE

tively predicts comparison on Facebook. In addition,

these authors noted that passive Facebook use, meaning
the ‘the monitoring of other people’s lives by viewing the
−.3435 (−.0711)
.3007 (.0532)

.3414 (.2612)

content of others’ profiles without direct exchanges

Coeff.

between the users’ (Frison & Eggermont, 2015: 4), stimu-

lated increased rates of social comparisons that, in turn,
exacerbated body dissatisfaction levels.
Previous research has also found that the relation-
ships between variables outlined in sociocultural models
Frequency of body comparisons
Facebook appearance activity

of body dissatisfaction vary depending upon the age,

Upward body comparisons

gender, and sociocultural setting of the participants.

For example, cultural specificities are important factors
to consider when devising and analyzing sociocultural
models of body dissatisfaction, with the focus on
Internalization

appearance potentially varying between countries. As

Self-esteem

a case in point, one study noted how Australian partic-

ipants reported perceiving greater media and peer influ-
Age

ence, internalization, and appearance comparisons

https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2020.93 Published online by Cambridge University Press

 Social Comparisons on Social Media 39

compared with their French counterparts (Rodgers et al. close friends and family rather than celebrities or distal
2011). The authors reasoned that Australian women may peers may afford different outcomes for body image
be more greatly influenced by Western ideals of beauty concerns as close friends’ appearances may be evalu-
due to Australia being a largely English-speaking coun- ated as being more personally attainable and less
try and therefore more susceptible to the influences of the extreme due to their similar lifestyles and resources
US diet industry and culture. The authors further rea- (Kierans & Swords, 2015).
soned that the French culture may act as a buffer Finally, it would be interesting to explore how other
for young French women where attitudes around food SNSs, particularly those with an exclusively visually
and diet have been described as being more positive focused platform such as Instagram, impact upon
than other Western countries (Holdsworth, 2008). users’ mental health. Given Instagram’s popularity
Furthermore, associations within sociocultural models among adolescents (Statista, 2019b) and its focus on vis-
have been found to be stronger for girls than boys ual representations of the self (e.g. uploading of selfies),
(Papp et al. 2013). It may also be the case that parental exploring if engagement was associated with a height-
influences on body image are stronger for younger ado- ened risk for experiencing elevated levels of body dis-
lescents compared with older adolescents and young satisfaction for adolescent girls would be worthwhile.
adults (Shroff & Thompson, 2006). Given these findings,
further attention is warranted to extrapolate how the
effects of online media exposure can vary depending Conclusion
upon an individual’s sociocultural environment, gender,
The constant stream of appearance-focused content
and age.
being perpetuated through the newsfeed feature on
Future research might consider looking to other
Facebook may afford greater opportunities to vulner-
established models of body image appraisals (e.g.
able adolescents to engage in social comparisons with
Tripartite Model of Body Dissatisfaction) to determine
female targets (Perloff, 2014). The present study sug-
potential additional variables that may explain adoles-
gests that frequent engagement in social comparisons,
cent body image dissatisfaction following exposure to
less favorable self-evaluations, and a tendency toward
online media platforms. The development of a compre-
internalization of appearance ideals are all important
hensive model, incorporating mediating and moderat-
processes in explaining how adolescent girls’ online
ing variables, that specifies social media’s potential
appearance-related activities are related to negative
effect on adolescent body image appraisals, would also
body image appraisals. It thus appears that Facebook
further explain its role in comparison to other tradi-
represents an additional appearance culture environ-
tional forms of media outlets (Prieler & Choi, 2014).
ment for female adolescents. With technology and the
Considering the proliferation of research within the
use of social networking platforms advancing at an
positive body image literature, future research could
exponential rate, research is continually needed to
also benefit from examining protective factors that
investigate any impact on young users’ mental health.
may buffer young girls from the more adverse effects
of social media sites. Emerging research has highlighted
how young women who were exposed to body-positive
Conflicts of interest
posts experienced improvements in mood, body satis-
faction, and body appreciation in comparison to being Maeve Scully, Lorraine Swords, and Elizabeth Nixon
exposed to thin ideal and appearance-neutral posts have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
(Cohen et al. 2019).
The theory also suggests that the impact of social
comparisons on self-evaluations can vary depending Ethical standards
on the comparative target’s distance, extremity, and
The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this
attainability in relation to the self (Mussweiler, 2003;
work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant
Mussweiler et al. 2005). If an individual believes a
national and institutional committee on human experi-
desirable attribute in another is attainable, they may
mentation with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as
be inspired and assimilate with them, whereas
revised in 2008. The study protocol was approved by
contrasting effects may occur when an individual
the ethics committee of the participating institution.
believes that such an attribute is outside their realm
of ability (Lockwood & Kunda, 1997). For example,
Mussweiler’s (2003) Selective Accessibility Model sug-
Financial support
gests that celebrities represent an unattainable, psycho-
logically distant, and extreme target of comparison for This research received no specific grant from any fund-
adolescent girls. Consequently, social comparisons to ing agency, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2020.93 Published online by Cambridge University Press

 40 M. Scully et al.

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