Australian Teen Girl Pics
Celena Holtzberg
The findings of this study have important implications for professionals working with adolescent girls and for the development of health promotion programs addressing social media use and body image concerns.
While social media can also counteract negative body image messages with positive body image accounts, even these accounts have been identified as commonly featuring appearance focused content [26, 27]. It seems the overwhelming message to adolescent girls is that their value is largely derived from their appearance [28, 29]. Girls can now easily and frequently compare themselves to those they follow on Instagram, whether they are peers or celebrities. The role of social media on body image is also an important issue for consideration among adolescent boys; however, existing research suggests girls are more likely to report negative body image [29, 30].
A generic qualitative research design was used for this study, an approach which is not informed by any one known qualitative methodology and its explicit or established set of philosophical assumptions [58]. A constructivist epistemology [59, 60] guided the study to explore the unique perspectives of adolescent girls using one-on-one in-depth interviews to elicit their thoughts, knowledge and experiences [61, 62].
To recruit students from non-government schools, approval was first sought from the Catholic Education Office of Western Australia and the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia then school principals, who were contacted by phone and email seeking their approval for project information to be distributed within their schools via email, newsletter items and flyers. Parents and students were provided with an information sheet describing the research and asked to contact the research team via phone or email if they were interested in participating. School principals were asked to nominate a school-coordinator to assist in arranging student interviews. Additionally, girls were recruited through snowball sampling methods, with those who participated in the study asked to distribute project information to other girls aged between 14 and 17 years.
Prior to participation in the study, written informed consent was obtained from both parents or guardians and adolescent girls. For those recruited from the Student Edge youth research panel, parent or guardian consent was required for students under 15 years to be eligible to become a member.
Prior to data collection, the interview protocol was pilot tested with a convenience sample of two adolescent girls aged between 16 and 17 years to provide feedback on question development and types of responses received, as well as the skills of the interviewer. No changes were made to the protocol as a result of the pilot testing.
Ten of the interviews were conducted in person (at their school or a public location) and the remaining fourteen interviews via phone (by participant request). Interviews lasted between thirty minutes and one hour.
The coding frame for thematic analysis included both inductive codes generated from the data itself and deductive codes present in the existing research literature [59]. Codes that did not reflect the data were amended to fit the data. Data were not molded to fit predetermined codes or discarded. To maintain confidentiality, each participant and other entity or institution was allocated a pseudonym during data analysis.
As an introduction to participant interviews, adolescent girls were asked about their social media use. These questions related to the different types of social media they used most often, how many hours a day they spent using these (on both a weekday and weekend day), and the device used to access social media.
I think in general it depends on the mood that you're in when you open your phone. If you're already in a vulnerable mindset or if you've been out all day at the beach or something and you'd come home, you'd probably take more notice of that and be like, "Oh, I wish I looked like that." (Charlotte, 17 years)
While asked about both potential positive and negative influences of sexualized images of females featured within social media, girls could not identify any positives and continually spoke of the negative influences;
Expectations related to social media use and body image were also discussed in relation to the normalization of following certain types of Instagram accounts, such as those that are appearance-focused and of attractive females with many followers, and how this could then lead to appearance-based expectations;
While encouraged to use third person disclosures during interviews, participants reported they made negative appearance comparisons when viewing images on social media. Negative appearance comparisons were made irrespective of whether images were considered sexualized. As in the discussions among girls related to expectation, both images of celebrities and peers influenced comparisons, however, the influence of peers was considered more prolific;
A lot of them [photos] are edited and things like that but you don't really think about that when you look at someone's profile, you just compare that to yourself and then, that just makes you feel really bad about yourself. (Emma, 17 years)
Even when prompted, girls struggled to identify any potential positive comparisons with the images to which they are exposed on social media. Females on social media who post photos of themselves were considered confident and empowered by their appearance, but girls did not agree on whether this would make girls their age feel good about their own appearance.
Although it was apparent throughout the interviews with the girls that they were already aware of the editing and enhancement of images on social media, as well as the tendency for images to portray females at their best, they struggled to apply this knowledge. This was especially the case when viewing images of their peers.
Participants discussed the use of social media to counteract negative body image and promote positive body image, with body positive and acceptance messages including imagery and quotes considered helpful;
Both school and other sources such as online environments were identified as settings where such support could be provided. However, girls also stressed the importance of schools not just providing talks about body image or advising them to simply stop engaging with social media that is influencing them negatively, as described in detail by Rachel (17 years):
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available to protect the anonymity and confidentiality of the participants. Requests to obtain datasets can be made to the corresponding author.
All authors designed the study and AP undertook the data collection. AP conducted data analyses with assistance from CF. AP was responsible for writing the manuscript and DC and CF were responsible for reviewing and contributing to the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Full ethical approval to conduct this research was obtained from the University of Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee and the relevant school authorities. Written informed consent was obtained from both parents or guardians and adolescent girls. For those recruited from the Student Edge youth research panel, parent or guardian consent was required for students under 15 years to be eligible to become a member. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.
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