Facebook photo activities linked to body dissatisfaction among teen girls: Study

Washington – Certain Facebook photo activities are linked to body dissatisfaction among teen girls that may lead to eating disorders and a drive for thinness, a new study has revealed.

The study explored on the theory that appearance exposure on the Internet is linked to body image disturbance among adolescent girls and found that specific Facebook activities are closely linked to body dissatisfaction and a drive for thinness.

Researchers Evelyn Meier and James Gray, PhD, American University identified an association between Facebook time spent on photo activity and poor body image among adolescent girls who internalize a thin ideal physique.

The authors of the article titled, ‘Facebook Photo Activity Associated with Body Image Disturbance in Adolescent Girls’ have discussed the implications of these findings for eating disorder prevention programs and understanding the impact of social networking sites.

Editor-in-Chief of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Brenda K. Wiederhold said it is important to identify contributing factors in this particularly vulnerable group of teenagers and by identifying the factors, more effective prevention programs can be designed.