What is it about?
Instagram is a popular and the fastest growing social media platform among young women to the point of influencing the relationship with their bodies. In line with the Tripartite Influence model, we explored the role of selfie-related behavior in experiencing shame for an appearance that does not match society’s beauty standards among women. Moreover, we investigated the potential buffering role of privacy settings in developing such feelings. Finally, we tested our hypotheses on a sample of young adult women from Italy and Portugal. The results partially confirmed the hypothesized model, indicating that sharing selfies was positively associated with body shame through appearance-based comparison and positively associated with beauty-ideal internalization. In contrast with the hypotheses, selfie manipulation was negatively associated with body shame. Gender and type of social networks account (public or private) moderated these relationships, whereas no moderation role was found concerning nationality.
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Why is it important?
Our findings support the thesis that some activities might be positively associated with a decreasing feeling of shame about own body. More specifically, our study suggests that appearance-based comparison might mediate the relationship between selfie-posting and body shame as well as act as a buffering function in the relationship between selfie behaviors and body shame. The absence of significant differences between the Italian group and Portugues one supports the cross-cultural validity of the model. In addition, the role played by privacy settings on such relationships, not investigated in previous studies, highlights its potential detrimental consequences on body image. Our study can help develop effective strategies to avoid body shame and its negative consequences, such as eating disorders.
Perspectives
This study represents a significant step in our research group’s efforts to identify which behaviors on social network sites can contribute to developing body-related concerns.
Dr Giovanni Schettino
Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “To be yourself or your selfies, that is the question”: The moderation role of gender, nationality, and privacy settings in the relationship between selfie-engagement and body shame., Psychology of Popular Media, July 2022, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000417.
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