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. 2013 Aug 28;8(8):e72481.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072481. eCollection 2013.

The role of explicit and implicit self-esteem in peer modeling of palatable food intake: a study on social media interaction among youngsters

Kirsten E Bevelander  1 , Doeschka J Anschütz, Daan H M Creemers, Marloes Kleinjan, Rutger C M E Engels
Affiliations

The role of explicit and implicit self-esteem in peer modeling of palatable food intake: a study on social media interaction among youngsters

Kirsten E Bevelander et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: This experimental study investigated the impact of peers on palatable food intake of youngsters within a social media setting. To determine whether this effect was moderated by self-esteem, the present study examined the roles of global explicit self-esteem (ESE), body esteem (BE) and implicit self-esteem (ISE).

Methods: Participants (N = 118; 38.1% boys; M age 11.14±.79) were asked to play a computer game while they believed to interact online with a same-sex normal-weight remote confederate (i.e., instructed peer) who ate either nothing, a small or large amount of candy.

Results: Participants modeled the candy intake of peers via a social media interaction, but this was qualified by their self-esteem. Participants with higher ISE adjusted their candy intake to that of a peer more closely than those with lower ISE when the confederate ate nothing compared to when eating a modest (β = .26, p = .05) or considerable amount of candy (kcal) (β = .32, p = .001). In contrast, participants with lower BE modeled peer intake more than those with higher BE when eating nothing compared to a considerable amount of candy (kcal) (β = .21, p = .02); ESE did not moderate social modeling behavior. In addition, participants with higher discrepant or "damaged" self-esteem (i.e., high ISE and low ESE) modeled peer intake more when the peer ate nothing or a modest amount compared to a substantial amount of candy (kcal) (β = -.24, p = .004; β = -.26, p<.0001, respectively).

Conclusion: Youngsters conform to the amount of palatable food eaten by peers through social media interaction. Those with lower body esteem or damaged self-esteem may be more at risk to peer influences on food intake.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow diagram of the recruitment procedure.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Computer game “Shooting Blocks” (above) and a participant waving good-bye to the remote confederate at the end of the online interaction (below).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Interaction effects between experimental intake condition, ISE and BE on social modeling of candy intake (kcal).
Note: The figure presents an interpretation of the interaction effect plotted with the unstandardized regression coefficients. In BE, there is a significant difference between the no- and high-intake condition for youngsters with lower BE. In ISE, there is a significant difference between the no- and high-, and low- and high-intake condition for those with higher ISE.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Interaction effect between experimental intake condition and discrepant self-esteem on social modeling of candy intake (kcal).
Note: The figure presents an interpretation of the interaction effect plotted with the unstandardized regression coefficients. There is a significant difference between the no- and high-, and low- and high-intake condition for youngsters with higher ISE than ESE.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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