Reframing the reflection: Can body positive videos boost body satisfaction?

Abstract

As social media continues to promote unrealistic beauty standards, the body positive movement has gained prominence, promoting acceptance of diverse body types. This study investigated the effectiveness of body positive short-form videos in increasing body satisfaction. Specifically, it was hypothesised that viewing body positive short-form videos would lead to a significant increase in body satisfaction (H1), and that this increase would significantly differ between genders (H2). Additionally, it was hypothesised that levels of trait physical appearance comparison would significantly influence the effectiveness of these videos in improving body satisfaction (H3). To investigate these hypotheses, the present study employed a single-group pretest-posttest design with 135 participants aged 18-29 years (44 men, M age = 24.8; 91 women, M age = 24.8). Participants watched 7.5 min of body-positive short-form videos, with body satisfaction assessed pre- and post-exposure and trait appearance comparison measured at baseline. A robust mixed-design ANOVA was used to test H1 and H2, revealing a significant increase in body satisfaction after viewing body positive videos, with no significant difference between genders. A one-way ANCOVA tested H3, indicating that physical appearance comparison levels did not influence the effectiveness of body positive videos in increasing body satisfaction. The findings of this study highlight the potential of body positive short-form videos as an easily accessible intervention for increasing body satisfaction and challenges the applicability of appearance comparisons within this context, however, the lack of a control group limits causal inferences about the specific effects of body-positive content.

Keywords: Appearance comparison; Body positivity; Body satisfaction; Short-form videos; Social media intervention.