The relationship between social comparison on Instagram and body image while controlling for self-esteem

Abstract

Instagram use has grown vastly in recent years, and it is often a part of a daily routine among younger people. The study aimed to examine if social comparison on Instagram was negatively associated with different measures of body image while controlling for self-esteem. Those who participated were active Instagram users and a self-selected sample of 640 women 18 years and older (M = 23.5). In this study, the participant’s body image was measured with six subscales, and those were: overall experience, investment in ideals, health and fitness evaluation, social dependence, height dissatisfaction, and fatness evaluation. The results revealed that self-esteem and age were associated with overall experience and social comparison on Instagram was not. The participants were likely to invest in ideals and therefore had low self-esteem and were prone to social comparison on Instagram. Age, social comparison on Instagram, and self-esteem were associated with health and fitness evaluation. Self-esteem and social comparison on Instagram were associated with social dependence. Participants were prone to social comparison and had decreased self-esteem due to their height dissatisfaction. Fatness evaluation was not associated with social comparison. However, the age of the participants was negatively associated with fatness evaluation. Self-esteem was associated with all the body-image scales. Keywords: Instagram, social comparison, body image, and self-esteem

Á undaförnum árum hefur Instagram notkun aukist mjög mikið og er það oft partur af daglegum vana hjá yngra fólki. Markmið rannsóknarinn var að kanna hvort að félagslegur samanburður á Instagram hefði neikvæð áhrif á ólíkar gerðir líkamsímyndar við mat á sjálfsáliti. Þátttakendur voru allt virkir notendur á Instagram og úrtakið samastóð af 640 konum sem voru 18 ára og eldri (M = 23.5). Líkamsímynd þeirra var mæld með sexundirskölum: over all experience, investment in ideals, health and fitness evaluation, social dependence, height dissatisfaction og fatness evaluation. Niðstöðurnar sýndu að sjálfsálit og aldur hafði tengsl við ,,overall experience’’ og félagslegur samanburður hafði enginn tengsl.Þátttakakendur voru líklegir til að ,,invest in ideals’’ og höfðu þar með lægra sjálfsálit og voru líklegir til að stunda félagslegan samanburð á Instagram. Aldur, félagslegur samanburður og sjálfsálit hafði tengsl við ,,health and fitness evaluation’’. Sjálfsálit ogfélagslegur samanburður á Instagram hafði tengls við ,,social dependece’’. Þátttakakendur höfðu tilhneigingu til félagslegs samanburðar á Instagram og höfðu lægra sjálfsálti út af ,,height dissatisfaction‘‘. ,,Fatness evaluation‘‘ hafði enginn tengsl við félagslegan samanburð. Hinsvegar hafði aldur þátttakanda neikvæð tengsl við ,,fatness evaluation‘‘.Sjálfsálit hafði tengsl við alla líkamsímyndar skalana.Lykilorð: Instagram, félagslegur samanburður, líkamsímynd og sjálfsálit.