Navigating Beauty Standards on Social Media: Impact of Appearance Activity on Adolescents’ Body Dissatisfaction

Social media activity focused on physical appearance can heighten body dissatisfaction in adolescents. However, the mechanisms behind this relationship remain insufficiently explored. This three-wave longitudinal study analyzed data from 2,500 adolescents (aged 11–16, M = 13.4, SD = 1.7, 50% girls) to examine whether the comparison with social media appearance ideals and the internalization of these ideals mediate the association between adolescents’ social media appearance activity and body dissatisfaction. The bidirectional relationships and the differences between girls and boys were also explored. While significant between-person correlations were found over time, the within-person results showed that heightened appearance activity did not increase body dissatisfaction in subsequent waves. Social media-ideal internalization and appearance comparison did not mediate this connection. Although the heightened internalization of social media ideals predicted more appearance activity and appearance comparisons, these links were not consistent across waves. No significant differences were observed between adolescent girls and boys. Hence, this study indicates that appearance-related activities on social media do not necessarily reinforce adolescents’ body dissatisfaction in the long term, providing insights for both research and policy.