Social Media Use in Early Adolescence: Implications for Body Image

Project Summary
The sharp increase in mental health symptoms among adolescents has triggered alarm regarding possible
sources for this increase, with much public concern focused on the high consumption of social media by youth.
Although numerous studies have examined linkages between adolescent social media use and mental health
outcomes, much of this research uses self-report assessments and cross-sectional designs, which are limited
by inaccuracy and inability to determine temporality in associations. Moreover, less research attention is
dedicated to the early adolescent period (ages 10–12). This developmental period marks the first entry into the
digital world for many youth and is a critical window during which to understand the effects of social media.
Body image concerns is an element of mental health that is especially relevant for social media use, and early
adolescents are developmentally at risk for negative body image perceptions and subsequent mental health
challenges. This study will examine how early adolescents use social media with a focus on how this use
relates to body image concerns, as well as how visual attention biases to highly visual self-focused digital
content relates to both social media use and body image concerns. We will also examine the role that parents
play in these associations. Parents are known sources of influence on adolescents’ body image concerns and
can also shape how adolescents select, interact with, and interpret social media content. For example, a
parent who demonstrates visual attention biases to appearance-oriented stimuli may intergenerationally
transmit these biases to their adolescent. This longitudinal study will examine an early adolescent sample (N =
200) at two time points: first, when adolescents are entering the 6th grade, and second, when adolescents are
entering the 7th grade. Adolescents and their parents will complete measures of their social media experiences,
as well as their body image concerns, at both time points. Self-reports will be supplemented with objective
measures of adolescent social media use via a) recordings of smartphone app usage, and b) recordings of
accounts followed on major social media platforms, with public accounts coded for appearance-oriented
content. Adolescents and their parents will also complete an eye-tracking task assessing self-focused visual
attention during a video chatting task. By collecting these data over time, we can examine how body image
concerns and visual attention to digital stimuli may change in concert with changes in social media use, with a
special focus on appearance-oriented social media use. Specifically, we can examine bidirectional
associations between early adolescent social media use, visual attention biases to self-focused digital content,
and body image concerns, with an additional focus on how parent body image concerns and self-focused
visual attention biases may predict these attitudes and behaviors. The information gained can inform
prevention and intervention efforts targeting unhealthy social media use during adolescence, such as by
testing parents as a source of influence and identifying visual attention biases as a risk factor.

Grant Number: 1R21MH135476-01A1
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Kaitlyn Burnell