Better than average Bopo: Identifying which body positive social media content is most helpful for body image among women

Abstract

Body positive social media content, and especially content that does not contain photos of bodies, has been shown to be helpful for body image compared to idealized social media content. However, body positive content is heterogenous and little is known regarding which types of content may be most helpful. This study examined self-reported body image and mood effects of different types of body positive content among women. A sample of 176 women, mean (SD) age = 21.77 (2.35) was recruited. Participants viewed body positive stimuli that were grouped into 14 different categories to represent the heterogenous nature of this social media content, including a text only category. Each image was rated in terms of its perceived effect on body image and mood. Findings suggested that the text-only category was rated most highly in terms of generating positive feelings towards the body and positive affect. Moreover, the comparative benefit of the text-only category was larger among women with higher BMI, and participants reporting closer proximity to the images, although not consistently across outcomes. Further work focused on understanding the effects of different types of body positive content is warranted.

Keywords: Body image; Body positive; Mood; Social media; Women.