Social media usage and its effect on adolescents body image : does the effect vary across the genders?

Social media is a relatively new and a fast-changing development, its effects on adolescents´ body image is not well known. This reveals the importance of further research on this topic. This study examined whether social media usage had any effect on adolescent´s body image and if there was any difference between the genders in regard to these effects. The participants of the study were Icelandic elementary students in 8th to 10th grade. All participants answered the questionnaire from the Icelandic Centre for Social Research & Analysis (ISCRA) anonymously. A total of 10.563 participants answered the questionnaire and a convenience sample of 2087 participants was used for the current study. The gender distribution was nearly equal with 1043 females and 1018 males. For statistical analysis an independent samples t-test, Univariate Analysis of Variance and a Chi-Square test were conducted. The results showed that the most used social media platform between the genders was visual based social media such as Snapchat, where the message, photo or video disappears after reading. The results also revealed that females spent significantly more time on social media than males, and that females had significantly worse body image than males. Keywords: Social media, adolescents, body image, gender

Author dc:creator

• Elva Lísa Sveinsdóttir 1997-

Contributors dc:contributor

• Háskólinn í Reykjavík

• Sálfræði
• Samfélagsmiðlar
• Unglingar
• Líkamsímynd
• Kynferði
• Psychology
• Social media
• Adolescents
• Body image
• Gender

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1946/38870

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:skemman.is:1946/38870