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The Relationship and Mechanisms Between Social Media Use and the Self-Objectification of Females

Received: 28 June 2023     Accepted: 13 July 2023     Published: 21 July 2023
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Abstract

Social media has become a part of our daily life in modern society and exerts a widespread and profound impact on individuals’ physical and mental health. Self-objectification, a phenomenon widely observed on young females, generally means that women tend to regard their body as an object by adopting the societal beauty standard prevalent in a specific society, and evaluate their body from a bystander perspective. Although the objectification theory was initially proposed since 1997, the close connection between social media use and the self-objectification of females actually has received continuous attention from researchers due to the prevalence of social media in modern society and the primary role of social media in contributing to the self-objectification of females. On the basis of reviewing the existing research concerning social media use and the self-objectification of females, the present research firstly systematically reviewed the relationship between social media use and females’ self-objectification, and also attempted to clarify the mediating mechanisms between them — the internalization of societal beauty standard (cognitive mechanism) and appearance anxiety (affective mechanism). In addition, the research discussed several protective factors that may mitigate the objectification tendency of females, including physical activities, self-compassion, and social media literacy. Finally, the research discussed some potential limitations in the field of social media use and female self-objectification, and possible directions in future research. By systematically reviewing the literature regarding social media use and the self-objectification of females, the present research will deepen our understanding of how social media use will be related to the self-objectification of females and also provide practical implications for how we can promote the mental health of female social media users in daily life.

Published in American Journal of Applied Psychology (Volume 12, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11
Page(s) 79-87
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Social Media, Objectification Theory, Media Psychology, Feminism, Mental Health

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Yang Han, Feng Yang, Haiyan Zhang. (2023). The Relationship and Mechanisms Between Social Media Use and the Self-Objectification of Females. American Journal of Applied Psychology, 12(4), 79-87. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11

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    ACS Style

    Yang Han; Feng Yang; Haiyan Zhang. The Relationship and Mechanisms Between Social Media Use and the Self-Objectification of Females. Am. J. Appl. Psychol. 2023, 12(4), 79-87. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11

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    AMA Style

    Yang Han, Feng Yang, Haiyan Zhang. The Relationship and Mechanisms Between Social Media Use and the Self-Objectification of Females. Am J Appl Psychol. 2023;12(4):79-87. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11,
      author = {Yang Han and Feng Yang and Haiyan Zhang},
      title = {The Relationship and Mechanisms Between Social Media Use and the Self-Objectification of Females},
      journal = {American Journal of Applied Psychology},
      volume = {12},
      number = {4},
      pages = {79-87},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajap.20231204.11},
      abstract = {Social media has become a part of our daily life in modern society and exerts a widespread and profound impact on individuals’ physical and mental health. Self-objectification, a phenomenon widely observed on young females, generally means that women tend to regard their body as an object by adopting the societal beauty standard prevalent in a specific society, and evaluate their body from a bystander perspective. Although the objectification theory was initially proposed since 1997, the close connection between social media use and the self-objectification of females actually has received continuous attention from researchers due to the prevalence of social media in modern society and the primary role of social media in contributing to the self-objectification of females. On the basis of reviewing the existing research concerning social media use and the self-objectification of females, the present research firstly systematically reviewed the relationship between social media use and females’ self-objectification, and also attempted to clarify the mediating mechanisms between them — the internalization of societal beauty standard (cognitive mechanism) and appearance anxiety (affective mechanism). In addition, the research discussed several protective factors that may mitigate the objectification tendency of females, including physical activities, self-compassion, and social media literacy. Finally, the research discussed some potential limitations in the field of social media use and female self-objectification, and possible directions in future research. By systematically reviewing the literature regarding social media use and the self-objectification of females, the present research will deepen our understanding of how social media use will be related to the self-objectification of females and also provide practical implications for how we can promote the mental health of female social media users in daily life.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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    T1  - The Relationship and Mechanisms Between Social Media Use and the Self-Objectification of Females
    AU  - Yang Han
    AU  - Feng Yang
    AU  - Haiyan Zhang
    Y1  - 2023/07/21
    PY  - 2023
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11
    T2  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
    JF  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
    JO  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
    SP  - 79
    EP  - 87
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5672
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11
    AB  - Social media has become a part of our daily life in modern society and exerts a widespread and profound impact on individuals’ physical and mental health. Self-objectification, a phenomenon widely observed on young females, generally means that women tend to regard their body as an object by adopting the societal beauty standard prevalent in a specific society, and evaluate their body from a bystander perspective. Although the objectification theory was initially proposed since 1997, the close connection between social media use and the self-objectification of females actually has received continuous attention from researchers due to the prevalence of social media in modern society and the primary role of social media in contributing to the self-objectification of females. On the basis of reviewing the existing research concerning social media use and the self-objectification of females, the present research firstly systematically reviewed the relationship between social media use and females’ self-objectification, and also attempted to clarify the mediating mechanisms between them — the internalization of societal beauty standard (cognitive mechanism) and appearance anxiety (affective mechanism). In addition, the research discussed several protective factors that may mitigate the objectification tendency of females, including physical activities, self-compassion, and social media literacy. Finally, the research discussed some potential limitations in the field of social media use and female self-objectification, and possible directions in future research. By systematically reviewing the literature regarding social media use and the self-objectification of females, the present research will deepen our understanding of how social media use will be related to the self-objectification of females and also provide practical implications for how we can promote the mental health of female social media users in daily life.
    VL  - 12
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Psychology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China

  • Department of Teacher Education, Taishan University, Tai’an, China

  • Department of Teacher Education, Taishan University, Tai’an, China

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