Don't feel comfortable in your own skin? The relationship between body dissatisfaction and social media use – A meta-analytical approach

Abstract

Objective

This meta-analysis aims to clarify the relationship between body dissatisfaction (BD) and social media use.

Methods

We searched for relevant original studies via multiple data bases (i.e. Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, etc.) until October 2023. Based on the included studies, we carried out a meta-analysis examining moderating effects and subgroup differences while testing the robustness of the relationship between BD and social media use against publication bias and influential cases.

Results

We included 18 studies with a total sample size of n = 24 384 participants with a mean age of 19.94 years (SD= 9.86) published from 2013 to 2022. Higher levels of social media use were significantly correlated with higher BD (r = 0.14 (95 % CI from 0.09 to 0.18, p < .001). The positive association between social media use and BD is robust against outlier exclusion and considering heterogeneity (r = 0.13 (95 % prediction interval from 0.04 to 0.23, p < .001).

Conclusion

Our results show that higher levels of social media use are significantly associated with higher BD. Key mechanisms behind the relationship are discussed.