Self-Compassion and Women's Experience of Social Media Content Portraying Body Positivity and Appearance Ideals

Roles

Student Authors:

Hope Rutter '21

Cindy Campoverde '20

Thao Hoang '20

Sydney Goldberg '22

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-16-2023

Department 1

Psychology

Abstract

In two experiments, we compared the effects of viewing randomly assigned Instagram posts featuring body-positive, appearance-ideal, or appearance-neutral content on young women's self-compassion. In each experiment, we considered trait self-compassion and disordered eating symptoms as potential moderators of these effects, and considered self-evaluative and self-comparative thoughts as potential mediators. In Study 1, participants (N = 142) viewed body-positive body photos, body-positive quotes, fitspiration body photos, or landscapes. In Study 2, participants (N = 105) viewed photos of the same individuals’ faces with or without makeup, or landscapes. As predicted, viewing content consistent with appearance ideals (fitspiration bodies and makeup faces) had significant detrimental effects on state self-compassion and thoughts about the self, relative to viewing body-positive content (body-positive bodies, body-positive quotes, and no-makeup faces) or appearance-neutral content (landscapes), especially among participants with low trait self-compassion or high disordered eating symptoms. We also found that relative to viewing landscapes, exposure to body-positive content increased state self-compassion and had no observed detrimental effects, even among participants low in trait self-compassion or high in disordered eating symptoms. Furthermore, the negative effects of exposure to appearance ideals for state self-compassion were mediated by more self-critical thoughts and unfavorable self-comparisons, while the benefits of viewing body-positive content were mediated by more self-affirming thoughts. Our results extend previous research on the psychological effects of body-focused media by further considering self-compassion as a relevant outcome variable and moderator.

DOI

10.1037/ppm0000453

Required Publisher's Statement

This article is available from the publisher's website.

This item is not available in The Cupola.

Share

COinS