Social Media and its associations with body satisfaction, exercise and eating habits in undergraduate students
Authors
O’Reilly, Isabelle
Issue Date
2018
Degree
BA (Hons) in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate the differences, relationships and predictability of body image satisfaction, exercise, eating habits and social media. Participants consisted of 113 undergraduate students (45 male, 68 female) with ages ranging from 18-33 (M= 21.12, SD= 1.81). A quantitative survey design was chosen, with cross sectional and correlational components. Participants completed an online questionnaire containing four questionnaires including Bergen Social Media Usage Scale, Body Shape Questionnaire, Godin-Leisure Scale and the Adult Eating Behaviours Questionnaire. The analysis revealed males were found to have higher body image satisfaction than their female counterparts. There was a significant positive correlation between body image satisfaction and exercise, and between body image satisfaction and positive eating habits. Body image satisfaction was significantly positively correlated social media usage. Body image satisfaction was found to significantly predict social media usage.