The Consequences of Social Media Use Across the Transition Into Adolescence: Body Image and Physical Activity

Abstract

Children and adolescents spend considerable time online. The current study investigated moderators of short-term longitudinal associations from social media use to changes in body satisfaction and physical activity. Participants (144 girls, 152 boys) were third–sixth grade students (ages 8–13) attending public schools in Florida (USA). Self-reports of social media use, body satisfaction, physical activity, and susceptibility to peer influence were completed twice, approximately 13.5 weeks apart. The results indicated that higher initial social media use was associated with greater subsequent decreases in body satisfaction and physical activity, but only for children high on susceptibility to peer influence. The findings suggest that peer conformity amplifies the risks of social media use. The fact that meaningful change can be identified across a relatively short period of time is noteworthy and demonstrates the need for careful monitoring of those who participate in social media at an early age.

Keywords

social media susceptibility to peer influence body satisfaction physical activity early adolescence

Children and young adolescents devote considerable time and energy to social media. By some estimates, 8–12-year-olds spend an average of 80 minutes a day on different platforms (Rideout et al., 2022). We know that greater social media use during the late adolescent years longitudinally predicts decreases in body satisfaction (Holland & Tiggemann, 2016) and subsequent increases in the incidence of being overweight (Engberg et al., 2021). Implicit in these findings is the assumption that social media exposes youth to unrealistic images of peers, which can harm self-views and impact preferences for physical or sedentary activities. Much less is known about the consequences of social media use during the preteen years. The present study is guided by the insight that youth are not equally oriented to peers nor equally susceptible to their influence (Laursen, 2018). In light of the dominance of peers on social media platforms, we test the hypothesis that individual differences in susceptibility to peer influence are a key factor that determines whether social media use has deleterious consequences for physical activity and body satisfaction. We do so in a short-term longitudinal framework with a diverse sample of youth whose ages span the transition into adolescence.

Body satisfaction refers to the degree to which an individual accepts and appreciates their appearance, height, weight, and shape. Lower body satisfaction is tied to higher levels of early adolescent body surveillance (Salomon & Brown, 2019) and disordered eating behaviors (Wilksch et al., 2019). Although most of the literature focuses on adolescence and adulthood, children are not immune to adjustment challenges tied to body dissatisfaction. For instance, strong evidence suggests that low body satisfaction among 7–11-year-old children anticipates subsequent increases in depressive symptoms (Evans et al., 2013) and decreases in school engagement (Guimond & Laursen, 2022). Older children and early adolescents struggle with body dissatisfaction as a result of anticipated and incipient changes brought on by puberty, which are known to adversely impact self-views (see Stice, 2003 for a review).

Body satisfaction can be traced to many sources. During adolescence, participation in social media is an important cause of poor self-views. Social comparison theory holds that individuals evaluate themselves with respect to similar others (Festinger, 1954). Physical appearance comparisons tend to be upward (i.e., contrasts with more attractive similar others), which can be detrimental to self-views of attractiveness (e.g., Wheeler & Miyake, 1992). Sociocultural theory holds that prevailing Western views of attractiveness emphasize difficult to attain body ideals (Tiggemann, 2011). Women should be thin, and men should be muscular; those who are not are judged to be less attractive (Brierley et al., 2016). With the advent of social media, social comparisons moved online. Unfortunately, many online images of physical appearance are unrealistic. Carefully curated posts often depict friends and peers in the most flattering manner possible, typically consistent with difficult-to-attain social norms that equate thinness with attractiveness (Harrison & Hefner, 2014). The problem is especially acute among those who are new to social media, suggesting that children are at special risk for ill-effects from online social comparisons. Preteens struggle to distinguish untouched from retouched social media photos, often assuming that photos seen online are real (Kleemans et al., 2018).

Given the social comparison practices outlined above, it should not be surprising to learn that some (but not all) studies report that frequent social media use is both concurrently and longitudinally associated with decreases in body satisfaction. To cite one example, frequent social media use among 11–18-year-olds was tied to subsequent decreases in body satisfaction 18 months later (de Vries et al., 2016). Adolescent social media use has also been linked to declining physical activity, as youth abandon outdoor activities and organized sports in favor of time before a screen (Dunton et al., 2020). As social media use crowds out physical activities, youth increasingly adopt a sedentary lifestyle that elevates the risk of obesity and concomitant health challenges (Engberg et al., 2021).

Longitudinal findings that tie social media use to adverse outcomes typically focus on the mid-to late adolescent years, which is understandable given that social media platforms purportedly prohibit participation by those who are younger. These strictures, however, are widely flaunted. One recent survey suggests that 1/3 of U.S. children ages 7–9-years old participate in at least one social media platform (Mostafavi, 2021); participation rates among 9–12-year-olds approach 90% (Patchin, 2020). The consequences of social media use among children and preadolescents are not well-documented, although concurrent correlations between media consumption and body dissatisfaction have been found in girls as young as 6-years old (Dohnt & Tiggemann, 2006). Because early adolescents report that the self-esteem correlates of peer social media feedback are similar to those of older adolescents (Meeus et al., 2019), it is reasonable to assume comparably deleterious longitudinal consequences.

Peer influence peaks rapidly across the transition into adolescence (Laursen & Veenstra, 2021), which may compound problems arising from social media use given that many equate likes and followers on social media sites with success in the peer social world (Chua & Chang, 2016). According to the differential susceptibility to media effects model (Valkenberg & Peter, 2013), heightened susceptibility to social media may be tied to age (children are presumed to be at particular risk), context (peers may encourage exposure to debilitating content), and disposition (personality and temperament may increase vulnerabilities). We focus here on a constellation of risks: The trait of susceptibility, during the late childhood and early adolescent years, in the context of peer relationships. Susceptible youth are, by definition, more likely to conform to their peers, to embrace, endorse, and emulate the judgements and behavior of others (Laursen & Faur, 2022). Social media is dominated by appeals from similar-age others, which can serve as another form of peer influence (Choukas-Bradley & Nesi, 2020). Heightened susceptibility to peer influence should increase the likelihood of conformity to the behaviors and values presented on social media, just as it increases the likelihood of in-person conformity.

The present study is unique in that it is one of the first to examine the effects of social media use on body satisfaction across the transition into adolescence and the first to examine susceptibility to peer influence as a moderator of the effects of social media use. We do so in a diverse sample of pre- and early adolescents across a 3-month period during a single academic semester. The study is a downward developmental extension of previous research tying social media use to detrimental outcomes during the middle and late adolescent years (e.g., Holland & Tiggemann, 2016). The data were collected during the Covid-19 pandemic, after children in Florida had returned to school but prior to the widespread introduction of vaccines, during a time of elevated social media use among adolescents (MacArthur et al., 2021) and a time of heightened concern among youth about their bodies (Choukas-Bradley et al., 2022).

The present study tests the hypothesis that youth are not equally impacted by exposure to social media. Consistent with the view that susceptibility to peer influence exacerbates deleterious outcomes arising from conformity pressure in peer-dominated domains (Laursen & Faur, 2022), we hypothesize that higher levels of social media use will predict decreases in both physical activity and body satisfaction, particularly (or exclusively) among youth who are most susceptible to peer influence. We considered the possibility that sex would moderate associations. Body satisfaction is known to decrease with age across adolescence, particularly among girls (e.g., Bearman et al., 2006); boys of this age tend to be more physically active than girls (e.g., McPhie & Rawana, 2015). It is not clear, however, that mean level differences in sex or age extend to differences in associations tied to social media use, so we made no predictions about moderated effects.

Method

Participants

Participants included 296 students (51.4% boys, 48.6% girls; M_age = 10.91, SD_age = 0.72) attending a public primary (first–fifth grades) and middle school (sixth–eighth grades) representative of the public-school population of Florida in terms of ethnicity and family income. School records indicate that the sample included 56 (29 boys, 27 girls) third graders (M_age = 9.57, SD_age = .88), 66 (32 boys, 34 girls) fourth graders (M_age = 10.25, SD_age = .74), 77 (41 boys, 36 girls) fifth graders (M_age = 11.44, SD_age = .66), and 97 (50 boys, 47 girls) sixth graders (M_age = 12.37, SD_age = .59). School records also indicated that 46.3% of the participants were European-American, 27.4% were Hispanic-American, 16.6% were African-American, 3.4% were Asian-American, and 6.4% reported mixed race or other backgrounds.

Procedure

Written parent consent and child assent were required for participation. The project was approved by school officials and the university IRB (#1355501–12). All students attending school in person were invited to participate; approximately 65% received consent to do so. Surveys were administered during class, 13–14 weeks apart, during the Spring 2021 semester.

All students enrolled in the school had the option of attending remotely because of the pandemic; 12.9% of students in grades 3–6 opted to attend separate, exclusively online classes. We focus on students attending school in person, with data collected in classrooms, during regular class hours, using computer tablets. There were no statistically significant (p > .05) differences in school grades between students who attended online and students who attended in-person during the semester the data were collected. Consistent with national (USA) surveys (e.g., Saavedra et al., 2020), a greater proportion of European-American students (90.4%) attended school in-person during the pandemic than Hispanic-American students (74.0%), and African-American students (59.2%), χ²(2) = 21.70, p < .001. A greater proportion of boys (82.1%) attended class in person than girls (72.0%), χ²(1) = 3.76, p = .052.

Measures

Participants completed the same surveys at both time points. All items were rated on a scale ranging from 1 (Never like me) to 5 (Always like me). All items for each variable are provided in Supplemental Table 1. For each variable, item scores were averaged, then standardized across waves. Raw scores are reported in tables. Internal reliabilities were acceptable (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Correlations, Internal Reliabilities, Means, and Standard Deviations.

Time 1 Variables	1 [95% CI]	2 [95% CI]	Time 2 Variables	4 [95% CI]	$α$	Mean (SD)
1. Body satisfaction	.68** [.62, .75]	.23** [.12, .35]	−.22** [−.32, −.09]	−.19** [−.30, −.06]	.79	3.81 (1.05)
2. Physical activity	.15* [.01, .25]	.66** [.62, .75]	−.10 [−.24, .01]	.05 [−.04, .22]	.72	3.88 (.96)
3. Social media use	−.21** [−.32, −.08]	−.14* [−.27, −.03]	.78** [.74, .83]	.03 [−.11, .14]	.75	3.29 (1.08)
4. Susceptibility	−.05 [−.17, .08]	.13* [.01, .25]	−.03 [−.18, .08]	.64** [.56, .71]	.70	2.19 (.86)
$α$	.85	.78	.80	.72
Mean (SD)	3.83 (1.05)	3.95 (1.01)	3.40 (1.06)	2.17 (1.08)

Note. N=296. Time 2 correlations reported above the diagonal, Time 1 correlations reported below the diagonal. Autocorrelations on the diagonal. Standardized scores were used in analyses; raw scores are reported for ease of interpretation. All items were rated on a scale ranging from 1 (Never like me) to 5 (Always like me). *p < .05, **p < .01.95% confidence intervals reported in brackets.

Social Media Use

Students completed an adapted version of a leisure activities survey (Eccles, 1983) that included three items assessing social media involvement.

Susceptibility to Peer Influence

Students completed four items (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007) drawn from a conformity to peers inventory.

Body Satisfaction

Students completed three items (adapted from Harter, 1985) assessing appearance self-worth.

Physical Activity

Students completed a 3-item (Kowalski et al., 1997) free time physical activity scale.

Potential Confounds

Supplemental analyses were conducted with variables known to correlate with the predictor, outcome, and/or moderator variables, to isolate effects to the constructs of interest and to rule out the possibility that third variables were responsible for the associations. Student self-report scales describing social goals (e.g., “I want others to think I am cool” Rudolph et al., 2011), emotional problems (e.g., “I worry a lot” Goodman, 1997), conduct problems (e.g., I am often accused of lying or cheating” Goodman, 1997), and loneliness (e.g., “I feel alone at school” Parker & Asher, 1993) were measured with 3–5 items. Internal reliabilities were acceptable (α = .57–.90). Participants completed a standard peer nomination survey consisting of a class roster on which students circled the names of classmates who best fit each description. Unlimited same- and other-sex nominations were permitted. Peer nomination variables included popularity (“Someone who is popular”), acceptance (“Someone you like to spend time with”), rejection (“Someone you don’t like to spend time with”), self-control (“Someone who has trouble controlling themselves”), impulsivity (“Someone who reacts quickly without thinking”), attractiveness (“Someone who is really good looking”), and athleticism (“Someone who is good at sports”).

Plan of Analysis

An autoregressive cross-lagged panel model was conducted in a structural equation modeling framework using Mplus v8.6 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017). Grade was included in the model (but not depicted in the figure) as a Time 1 correlate to control for mean level differences; the same pattern of statistically significant (p < .05) results emerged when grade was omitted from the model. Standard model fit guidelines were applied: TLI and CFI should be >0.95 and RMSEA should be <0.06 (Hu & Bentler, 1999). Chi-square fit statistics are not reported because they are overly sensitive in moderately large samples (Chen, 2007).

Cross-lagged paths examined direct and moderated over time associations predicting Time 2 body satisfaction and physical activity. We focus on the direct paths involving social media use, to determine whether Time 1 social media use anticipates decreases in Time 2 body satisfaction and physical activity. Moderated paths include the Time 1 susceptibility to peer influence $\times$ Time 1 social media use interaction term as a predictor. Moderated paths will test the hypothesis that associations between social media use and diminished body satisfaction and physical activity are strongest among youth who are susceptible to peer influence. Follow-up simple slope analyses probed statistically significant moderated associations at low (1 SD below the mean) and high (1 SD above the mean) levels of susceptibility to peer influence. Simple slopes illustrate associations between social media use and body satisfaction and between social media use and physical activity at high (1 SD above the mean) and low (1 SD below the mean) levels of susceptibility to peer influence. The procedure estimates slopes at given levels of the predictor, utilizing the entire sample.

Supplemental analyses were conducted to rule out the possibility that associations were driven by unobserved variables. The same pattern of statistically significant (p<.05) results emerged when potential confounding variables were separately included as Time 1 covariates. In addition, multiple group contrasts revealed no statistically significant (p > .05) over-time path differences as a function of sex, grade, or ethnicity.

Missing data accounted for an average of 14.5% (range = 9.5–21.3%) of reports. There were no differences on any study variables between students who did (n = 267) and did not (n = 29) participate at both time points. Little’s MCAR test indicated that data were missing completely at random, χ²(5068) = 5079.86, p = .451. Missing item-level data were handled with multiple imputation using an EM algorithm with 25 iterations. Missing wave-level data were handled with FIML.

Results

Preliminary Analyses

Table 1 presents descriptive statistics and intercorrelations. All autocorrelations were statistically significant (p < .01). At each time point, social media use was negatively correlated with body satisfaction and physical activity. Physical activity and body satisfaction were positively correlated.

Separate 4 (grade) by 2 (sex) by 2 (time) repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted with all study variables as dependent variables. There was a statistically significant main effect of grade for body satisfaction, F(3,238) = 8.51 p =.005. A post hoc Tukey test indicated that fifth graders (M = 3.71, SD = 1.05, d = 0.38) and sixth graders (M = 3.69, SD = 1.07, d = 0.45) reported statistically significantly (p < .05) lower body satisfaction than third graders (M=4.12, SD=0.88), with fourth graders in between (M = 3.85, SD = 1.13, d = 0.25–0.28). There was a statistically significant main effect of time for social media use [F(1,240) = 9.59, p = .002, d = 0.08], which increased from Time 1 (M = 3.28, SD = 1.08) to Time 2 (M = 3.40, SD = 1.06). There was also a statistically significant main effect of sex for social media use, F(1,240) = 7.82, p = .006, d = 0.30. Boys (M = 3.43, SD = 1.02) reported greater social media use than girls (M = 3.14, SD = 1.13). There were no statistically significant (p>.05) two- or three-way interactions.

Direct and Moderated Associations from Social Media Use to Body Satisfaction and Physical Activity

Figure 1 depicts the results. Model fit was good (CFI = 1.00; TLI = .99; RMSEA = .02). There was a statistically significant (p = .025) positive association from Time 1 susceptibility to peer influence to Time 2 physical activity, and a borderline statistically significant (p = .060) negative association from Time 1 social media use to Time 2 body satisfaction. These two associations were modified by statistically significant interactions (see below). There was also a statistically significant (p = .044) positive association from Time 1 body satisfaction to Time 2 physical activity, such that higher initial body satisfaction anticipated greater increases in physical activity. Finally, there was a borderline statistically significant (p = .057) negative association from Time 1 body satisfaction to Time 2 social media use, such that lower initial body satisfaction anticipated greater increases in social media use. All stability coefficients were statistically significant (p < .05).

Two moderated paths were statistically significant. There were statistically significant associations from the Time 1 susceptibility to peer influence $\times$ social media use interaction term to (a) Time 2 body satisfaction (p = .006) and (b) Time 2 physical activity (p = .053). Follow-up simple slope plots (see Figures 2(a) and 2(b)) indicated that higher levels of initial social media use were associated with greater subsequent decreases in body satisfaction and physical activity, but only for children high on susceptibility to peer influence.

Discussion

We examined short-term longitudinal outcomes associated with social media use in a diverse sample of youth attending Florida primary and middle schools. Recognizing the potential significance of individual differences in conformity, the study was designed to test the hypothesis that self-reported trait-like susceptibility to peer influence moderates the deleterious consequences of social media use. Consistent with our predictions, higher initial social media use was associated with greater subsequent decreases in body satisfaction and physical activity, but only for youth high on susceptibility. The results held after controlling for several variables known to known to correlate with the predictor, moderator, and outcome variables. The study is unique not only because it is the first to consider conformity tendencies as a moderator of the effects of social media use, but also because it is the first to explore the consequences of social media use on physical activity and body satisfaction during the years that span the transition into adolescence.

Declines in body satisfaction during adolescence—documented well before the advent of widespread social media use (e.g., Rauste-von Wright, 1989)—are not a new phenomenon. The advent of social media use, however, has exacerbated the problem for many youth by providing ubiquitous opportunities for body comparisons. We are not the first to observe that adolescent social media use anticipates declining body satisfaction among young adolescents (e.g., Salomon & Brown, 2019). Our study is novel in that it extends evidence for adverse consequences linked to social media use downward, to the years that precede the age when youth are technically eligible to participate on most platforms. Indeed, we find deleterious outcomes in children as young as 8 years old. Although news accounts (Wells et al., 2021), suggest that the problem is especially acute for girls, we found deleterious outcomes among boys too. Recent meta-analyses concur with this conclusion (Holland & Tiggemann, 2016; Saiphoo & Vahedi, 2019), indicating that boys’ and girls’ body satisfaction are similarly affected by social media use. Both boys and girls are exposed to unrealistic and unrepresentative depictions of the physiques of agemates and influencers, a situation exacerbated by an age-related naivete linked to the lack of digital experience and an inability to recognize tampered images (Kleemans et al., 2018).

Peers occupy a position of special significance in the lives of pre- and early adolescents (Laursen & Veenstra, 2021). Unique to our study is the recognition that some adolescents are more prone to conformity than others and that these individual differences may shape responses to social media. Susceptible youth may be particularly oriented toward peers and especially desirous of peer approval and status. One consequence may be a focus on appearance comparison, which has been linked to forms of social anxiety and attendant body dissatisfaction (Yang et al., 2020). In particular, youth high in appearance comparison tend to internalize body ideals, which can make them susceptible to influence from online images of peers. Susceptible youth, primed by social media, may be particularly attuned to discrepancies between actual and ideal self-perceptions, which are known to have debilitating consequences for self-worth (Ferguson et al., 2010). If there is good news, it is that the adverse consequences of elevated social media exposure were limited to youth who reported high trait-like conformity tendencies. In an ideal world, strictures against social media participation by preteens would be enforced. Until that time, parents and practitioners should be alert to the dangers of social media exposure among children who are open to peer influence. Those who find it difficult to restrict the online activities of their children should seek additional resources that encourage positive body satisfaction.

We know that social media use is linked to subsequent decreases in physical activity during the early adolescent years (Engberg et al., 2021). The straightforward interpretation of these findings is that youth who spend all their time on the computer or phone have no time left for exercise. Our findings suggest that a more nuanced interpretation may be in order. Of course, we can only speculate as to why the effects appear to be limited to youth who are susceptible to peer influence. One possibility is that popular youth do not depict themselves as physically active. High status figures may be more apt to post images of themselves as perfectly coiffed and impeccably attired in visually attractive surroundings, rather than disheveled and sweaty in a gym. Another possibility is that athletic youth, who tend to hold high status in the group (LaFontana & Cillessen, 2002), depict themselves and their accomplishments in such an unrealistic manner that it discourages those who are susceptible from exerting themselves similarly. Susceptibility to peer influence is known to have neural underpinnings (Güroğlu & Veenstra, 2021), which may also correlate with physical activity preferences. Finally, physical activity may be depicted as an exclusive pastime, reserved for those who are attractive and fit, which, again, may be off putting to those who are easily swayed by social media depictions.

Our study is not without limitations. First, we do not know which social media platforms the children were using. Highly susceptible youth may be exposed to different forms of social media than less susceptible youth, raising the possibility that susceptibility may be confounded with type of social media exposure. Second, our sample, reflecting national trends on school attendance during the pandemic, was representative of children who returned to the classroom but not those who extended their time in remote education. Thus, boys and European-Americans were over-represented. We suspect that youth who stayed home had higher levels of social media use than those who returned to the classroom; should the patterns of association identified herein generalize, we fear that many girls and ethnic minority youth struggled with physical inactivity and body dissatisfaction during an already difficult time. Third, our reliance on self-report measures for key study variables raises the prospect of bias arising from same-reporter variance. Although main effect associations may be inflated as a consequence, shared reporter variance are unlikely to explain moderated findings. Fourth, our measure of susceptibility to peer influence inventory focuses on responses to unspecified forms peer pressure. It does not speak directly to either body satisfaction or physical activity. Stronger effects might be expected with a targeted assessment of peer influence. Fifth, frequency of social media use was but one of three items measured. Some might argue that the scale better measures importance of social media rather than frequency of use. Sixth, some might argue that the moderated effects were small. We take a different view. The fact that effects could be detected across a relatively brief period of time (one semester/3 months) both increases confidence that changes were not due to undetected intervening variables and underscores the potential long-term ramifications for those whose social media lives have only begun. Even small effects, when considered at scale and over time, can have meaningful consequences (Götz et al., 2022), especially in the lives of preteens on the cusp or in the early stages of puberty. Finally, we collected our data during the latter phases of the pandemic, when most children in Florida had returned to school but before vaccines for children were available. Nationally, this was a period of increased social media use among youth (MacArthur et al., 2021) which coincided with heightened body concerns (e.g., Choukas-Bradley et al., 2022). Although data collected during the pandemic provides important insight into the potential consequences of social media use during challenging times, it remains to be seen whether findings will replicate as youth adjust to this new normal.

Our findings matter because they are the first to demonstrate, in a short-term longitudinal framework, that some pre- and early adolescents are particularly vulnerable to adverse outcomes arising from social media use. We now know that susceptibility to peer influence exacerbates the association between social media use and decreases in body satisfaction and physical activity. Importantly, our study only spanned 13–14 weeks during a single school year. Yet even in such a short period of time, we found that social media use negatively impacted both body satisfaction and physical activity in a sample of children and young adolescents. Having identified a salient risk characteristic, scholars should redouble efforts to limit social media exposure and mitigate its ill effects among those who are particularly susceptible.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental Material - The Consequences of Social Media Use Across the Transition Into Adolescence: Body Image and Physical Activity

Supplemental Material forThe Consequences of Social Media Use Across the Transition Into Adolescence: Body Image and Physical Activity by Mary Page Leggett-James and Brett Laursen in The Journal of Early Adolescence

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the cooperation of the students, faculty, and staff at Palm Pointe Educational School.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (#HD096457).

ORCID iDs

Mary Page Leggett-James

Brett Laursen

Author Biographies

Mary Page Leggett-James is a doctoral student in psychology at Florida Atlantic University. Her research focuses on peer relationships.

Brett Laursen is a Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Behavioral Development. His research focuses on influence within parent-child and peer relationships, and the adjustment outcomes associated with each.

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