New study: Social media impacts male body image

Social media use in physically active men makes them more body conscious, creating negative feelings about their appearance and increasing their desire for more muscles, a new study from Brunel University of London reports.

With over 5 billion users worldwide, social media has cemented itself into everyday life. It instantly connects people with content and networks, enabling users to actively engage with posts or to passively browse at their leisure. With endless profiles, targeted adverts and suggested content, users are immersed in an intentional world full of algorithms that's awash with idealised bodies and lifestyles.

Male body image concerns have increased in recent years, particularly since the rise of social media, and a recent YouGov survey in the USA found that 56% of men felt that the media promotes an unattainable body image, while 42% said that they felt pressure to have a particular body type.

"Traditionally, body image research has been focused heavily on women, and there is a need for more male-specific research," explained Mr Chris Bell, a doctoral researcher from Brunel University of London, who led the study. "Male body image concerns have risen in recent decades, particularly since the proliferation of social media," he added.

Mr Bell explained that body image concerns place a high degree of importance on muscularity and believes that physically active men may be at a greater risk of body image threats because of their drive towards increasing their muscles.

For his study, published in New Media & Society, the Brunel academic surveyed 224 physically active men in the UK aged 18 to 50 to investigate how active and passive social media use is related to body image. The participants were all recruited through Instagram and Facebook, the two most popular social media platforms used by adult men in the UK, and had to be social media users who were physically active at least once a week.

"Active social media use was identified with two multiple-choice questions about how often participants engaged with content from others through features such as messages, likes and comments," explained Mr Bell. "Passive use, also known as social browsing, was measured with four multiple-choice questions that explored the participants' browsing habits. This included how often they browsed their newsfeed and content from their friends, celebrities or influencers."

For each question, participants selected answers that ranged from 'Never' to 'Very often', and each answer had a score value from 1 to 5. The higher the score, the more frequently they engaged with social media.

After answering questions on their social media use, the participants answered a series of multiple-choice questions, that were later scored, to identify how strongly they agreed with specific statements about their appearance salience (the extent to which someone is aware of their appearance) and appearance valence (body satisfaction, and the extent to which someone evaluates their appearance in a positive or negative way), as well as their drive for muscularity. "By researching how often their appearance was brought into their consciousness awareness, as well as the feelings evoked by their physical self, I was able to study both aspects of body image," explained Mr Bell.

"The results showed that higher social media use, particularly passive browsing, was associated with an increased awareness by participants of their appearance and a drive for more muscular physiques," he explained. "Participants who were active social media users, frequently liking and commenting on content, were less satisfied with their bodies and had an increased level of negative feelings about their appearance."

Mr Bell believes that the study can help explain how social media may be affecting male body image. "The study provides greater detail on how this relationship may work in men and provides insights into how male social media use may be contributing to negative body image and body-related behaviours."

'Active and passive social media use: Relationships with body image in physically active men', by Chris Bell, Adam J Cocks, Laura Hills and Charlotte Kerner, is published in New Media & Society.

Nadine Palmer, Media Relations +44 (0)1895 267090
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