Social Media Effects on Lifestyle Satisfaction
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04253041. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
Effects of Exposure to Body Positive and Fitspiration Instagram Content on Undergraduate Women's State Body Satisfaction, State Body Appreciation, and Mood
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
From magazines to Miss America, the media has consistently contributed to the spread of sociocultural beauty standards for decades. While initial research on the effects of media on body image primarily focused on magazine and television, recent research has shifted towards exploring the effects of social media due to its rapid and constant accessibility. Current research has associated the promulgation of the thin-ideal with bulimia, dieting, supplement use, negative affect, and body dissatisfaction. Literature related to thin-ideal media (thinspiration), decreased body dissatisfaction, and negative mood is robust with a common understanding that thin-ideal media instigates increased appearance comparisons to seemingly unattainable beauty standards. Literature has also suggested that depression and anxiety have increased with the growth of social media and pressure to achieve unattainable beauty. The fit-ideal, often referred to as Fitspiration, was created as an "antidote" to thin-ideal beauty standards. However, research has found that though well intended, fitspiration content continues to promote the thin-ideal and has been associated with similarly detrimental outcomes of body dissatisfaction and negative mood. Over the last decade, body image research has shifted the focus on body disturbance to examining concepts related to positive body image. However, to date there are no known studies examining the impacts of fit-ideal content versus body positive content on women's body appreciation, body satisfaction, and state mood. The purpose of the present study is to experimentally examine the impact of exposure to body positive and fitspiration Instagram content on the body satisfaction, body appreciation, and mood of undergraduate women at Arizona State University. Participants will be 90 female undergraduate students (18-29 years old) currently attending Arizona State University. Participants will be randomly allocated to view either fitspiration, body-positive, or appearance neutral Instagram images. Dependent variables including state body appreciation, state body dissatisfaction, and state mood will be measured using Visual Analogue Scales. Trait thin-ideal internalization and trait social comparison will also be measured as moderators using the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 and the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised. We hypothesize that viewing body positive content from Instagram will result in greater state body satisfaction, greater state body appreciation, and greater state positive mood compared to participants exposed to fitspiration and appearance neutral content. We also hypothesize that viewing fitspiration content from Instagram will result in greater state body dissatisfaction, decreased state body appreciation, and greater state negative mood compared to participants exposed to body positive and appearance neutral content. Short answer qualitative interview questions will also be included as an exploratory aim of this study where we intend to fill a gap in the literature regarding the specific aspects of each content topic that elicit the observed quantitative outcomes.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT04253041
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 98 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 29 Years
- Sex
- Female
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Feb 2, 2020
- Primary completion
- Feb 23, 2020
- Completion
- Feb 23, 2020
- Last update posted
- Apr 30, 2020
2020
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona State University | Tempe | Arizona | 85281 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04253041, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Apr 30, 2020 · Synced Sep 8, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT04253041 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.