An observational study in Body Image, sponsored by University of Leeds. Completed at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to male participants aged 18 Years to 34 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-06-07.
Sponsored by University of Leeds · Observational
Every day, people are exposed to huge amounts of media. Research has explored the impact of viewing traditional media and advertising (such as television and magazines) on how a person thinks and feels about their body (body satisfaction). However, less is known about the impact of exposure to social media on body satisfaction. It is important to consider this now, given the rise in social media use.
The rise in social media use has made it easier for people to share images of an 'ideal' body, which for men is high muscularity and low body fat. Alongside this rise in the ideal body being shared on social media, there is a rise in male eating disorders. Research has already demonstrated that showing images of the 'ideal' body decreases body satisfaction. However, there has been little research in men and this research uses media from magazines.
The present study will update research by using images taken from Instagram and by recruiting male participants. Participants will be asked to take part in an online survey (shared on social media) which measures initial mood, body satisfaction, self-esteem and diet and exercise intentions. It will then show participants images of men with different physiques (either muscular, overweight, slender or control images of landscapes). The measures will then be repeated to see if viewing the images had any impact
The present study will seek to replicate findings of previous studies by exposing men to images of the idealised male physique and demonstrating increased body dissatisfaction and negative affect. However, given the rise of social media and the suggestion that social media platforms should be investigated independently, the present study aims to update literature by using images from Instagram rather than traditional forms of media. Instagram was chosen based on the suggestion that this social media platform may be the most detrimental to body image concerns because of its sole focus on photo activity and hence the elevated opportunity for social comparison. Additionally, male participants were chosen because to the author's knowledge, the experimental studies which have exposed participants to images taken from Instagram have only recruited women.
This study also builds upon previous findings that exposure impacts upon eating disorder and muscle dysmorphia symptomatology, by ensuring that the measures used to investigate these constructs are more relevant and more valid in men. This is achieved by measuring men's intentions to modify their diet and exercise regime to increase muscularity. Dieting and exercise intentions are measured, given the limitations in directly monitoring diet and exercise through diaries and according to the theory of planned behaviour, intentions strongly predicts actual behaviour. Pre and post exposure scores are used to investigate whether exposure has an impact on these outcomes.
Moderating factors such as gym use, pre-existing body and muscle dissatisfaction and social media use are controlled for in hope of demonstrating larger effect sizes. The reason for this is because the above research suggests that those using social media more often, those not attending the gym and those with pre-existing body or muscle dissatisfaction are more at risk of body dissatisfaction and other negative effects following exposure to images of the idealised physique.
This study also builds upon research which has provided evidence for the processes underlying the relationship between exposure to idealised images and body dissatisfaction. Research suggests that social comparison is a mediating factor, however this research either draws upon traditional media rather than social media to source images or the research only utilises female participants. Therefore, this study combines the use of images taken from Instagram with the recruitment of male participants. Additionally, in the hope of providing stronger evidence for underlying processes, social comparison is measured directly (instead of being inferred). Given the suggestion that people are more likely to socially compare themselves to peers rather than models or celebrities, images used in exposure did not include models or celebrities.
Finally, this study will learn from limitations of other studies by dividing their 'average' condition into two (skinny and overweight) in addition to maintaining a muscular and control group. The purpose of this is to demonstrate the role of upward and downward social comparisons to support the social comparison theory as an explanation of the effect.
The study utilises an experimental design as there is sufficient literature to generate hypotheses to be tested. Additionally, an experimental design is a robust and controlled method of capturing the acute effects of manipulating an independent variable.
The study adopts a between subjects design with four conditions. Each participant will complete one of four online questionnaires on SurveyMonkey. The four questionnaires are identical except for the images contained within them, hence the independent variable is image type. Each questionnaire will contain 15 images of either the idealised physique (muscular, lean and low body fat), overweight physique, skinny physique or landscapes (control images). These images will be selected from a pool of images by an independent panel in the target age range in the initial stage of the study.
5,063 studies on the registry are indexed under Anxiety Disorders; 1,408 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 214 is above the median of 148 across 630 observational studies indexed under Anxiety Disorders.
Browse Anxiety Disorders studies →University of Leeds is the lead sponsor of 206 studies on the registry; 25 are open to participants now.
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Any men aged 18-34 will be recruited. Students from the University of Leeds will make up a large proportion of the sample.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will be males aged 18-34. Each individual will be exposed to images of men with either a muscular, skinny or overweight physique or the control images of landscapes.
Other: Exposure to images
Exposure to images
State Body Satisfaction
Visual Analogue Scale of body satisfaction. Each item is scored by participants between 0-100 (0 = not at all satisfied, 100 = very satisfied).
Time frame: Through study completion. Participants are asked to rate their current body satisfaction before they view the images (after approx 5 minutes) and are asked the same questions again immediately after they view the images (after approx 10-15 minutes)
Diet and Exercise Intentions
Measures participants intentions to change their diet and exercise type/frequency. Measured using a 7 point likert scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree.
Time frame: Participants are asked to rate their intentions to change their diet and exercise (over the next 2-3 days) before they view the images and again immediately after they view the images.
Mood
Individual Visual Analogue Scales for anxiety, depression, confidence, anger and happiness. Each item is scored by participants between 0-100 (0= not at all anxious, depressed, angry, happy, confident and 100 = very anxious, depressed, angry, confident, happy).
Time frame: Through study completion. Participants are asked to rate their current mood before they view the images (after approx 5 minutes) and are asked the same questions again immediately after they view the images (after approx 10-15 minutes).
State Self-esteem scale (appearance subscale)
Measure of self-esteem using a 5 point likert scale ranging from 1-5 (1=not at all true, 5=extremely true)
Time frame: Through study completion. Participants are asked to rate how they feel in response to the questions before they view the images (after approx 5 minutes) and are asked the same questions immediately after they view the images (after approx 10-15 minutes).
State Appearance Comparison
Measure of comparison of own body to images viewed in the questionnaire. Measured using a 7 point likert scale (1=no thought about my appearance when viewing the images, 7 = a lot of thought about my appearance when viewing the images).
Time frame: Through study completion. Participants are asked to rate this measure immediately after they have viewed the images (after approx 15 minutes).
Trait body satisfaction
Measure of trait (baseline) body satisfaction. Measured on a 6 point likert scale (1=never, 6=always).
Time frame: Participants rate the questions in this measure once at baseline after approx 5 minutes (before the images are presented to them)
Plan to share: No — Data will not be made publicly available. Data may be made available for relevant future research upon reasonable request to the research supervisor.
This study is completed, as verified in Jun 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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