Social Media and Teen Body Image

Yeo, Eng Joe (2022) Social Media and Teen Body Image. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

The fundamental role social media plays in most people’s daily routine has resulted in a rapid rise of usage of the platform, including among the Malaysian younger teens. This research intends to study the influence of social media towards the mentality, specifically in terms of cognition, emotion and any potential behavioural changes among Malaysian younger teens in regards to body image. Therefore, a total of 18 Malaysian mix-gender respondents from the age group of 13 - 17 years old were identified for three focus group sessions, with six participants in each session. The raw data were examined using Thematic Analysis by breaking down the responses into codes and relevant categories of themes. Based on the application of U&G theory, it is observed that Malaysian younger teens use social media to gratify certain needs in psychological reassurance, surveillance, entertainment, socialisation and escapism. However, the addictive nature of social media contributes a direct negative impact on Malaysian younger teens regarding their mentality towards body image with misleading beauty standards. Consequently it deteriorates their self-esteem which leads to body dissatisfaction. To illustrate, male younger teens are influenced to develop a muscularity-oriented behaviour, while the female younger teens are worshipping an ideal of thin body image. Future research is suggested to stretch the sample size and demographic, as well as Malaysian younger teens with a higher number of social media followers in order to draw a more enhanced conclusion about their mentality towards body image