Imagery versus captions: The effect of body positive Instagram content on young women’s mood and body image

Body positive social media content aims to positively impact young women’s body image and mood by challenging traditionally narrow beauty ideals. This online experiment investigated the effect of viewing body positive Instagram posts on young women’s body image and mood, whilst focusing on understan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Body image 2023-03, Vol.44, p.120-130
Main Authors: Cowles, Ellie, Guest, Ella, Slater, Amy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Affect
Body image
Body Image - psychology
Body positivity
Concept Formation
Female
Humans
Instagram
Personal Satisfaction
Positive body image
Social Media
Social networking sites
Young Adult
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Summary:Body positive social media content aims to positively impact young women’s body image and mood by challenging traditionally narrow beauty ideals. This online experiment investigated the effect of viewing body positive Instagram posts on young women’s body image and mood, whilst focusing on understanding the impact of the images and captions in the posts. Overall, 195 young women (18–30 years old) were randomly assigned to view either body positive (consisting of images and captions), body positive captions only, body positive images only, or thin-ideal Instagram posts. Positive mood increased in all conditions pre to post exposure. Further, body satisfaction and negative mood improved pre-post exposure for all body positive conditions. However, when controlling for trait body appreciation significant effects only remained for the combined image and caption body positive condition. There were no significant differences in positive mood, state body appreciation, self-objectification, or broad conceptualisations of beauty between the three body positive exposure conditions. Therefore, to improve body satisfaction and mood, body positive content should include a combination of images and captions. •We explored the impact of body positive content on women’s body image and mood.•Positive mood increased in the body positive and thin ideal conditions.•There were no changes in positive body image or self-objectification.•Body positive posts with images and captions improved body satisfaction and mood.
ISSN:1740-1445
1873-6807
DOI:10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.12.004