Appearance-related cyberbullying and its association with the desire to alter physical appearance among adolescent females

Taliah Prince; Kate E Mulgrew; Christina Driver; Lia Mills; Jehan Loza; Daniel F Hermens

doi:10.1186/s40337-024-01083-z

Back

Appearance-related cyberbullying and its association with the desire to alter physical appearance among adolescent females

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Appearance-related cyberbullying and its association with the desire to alter physical appearance among adolescent females

Taliah Prince, Kate E Mulgrew, Christina Driver, Lia Mills, Jehan Loza and Daniel F Hermens

Journal of Eating Cisorders, Vol.12, pp.1-16

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-024-01083-z

Appears in Thompson Institute Research Collection

Files and links (1)

pdf

s40337-024-01083-z1.03 MBDownload View

Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access

Related media

Expert Quote 16-Jul-2025

Study shows how body image bullying affects teenage girls' brains

UniSC News

Abstract

appearance-related cyberbullying

victimisation

adolescents

body image

eating disorder

Thompson Institute Special Collection

Longitudinal Adolescent Brain Study

Youth mental health

UniSC Diversity Area - Disability and Inclusion

UniSC Diversity Area - Life Stages

Cyberbullying is associated with various mental health concerns in adolescents, including body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviours. However, there is a significant research gap concerning the unique effects of appearance-related cyberbullying (ARC) on adolescent mental health. This study examined the prevalence and psychological consequences of ARC among middle to late adolescent females (aged 14-19 years, Mage = 15.98, N = 336). Participants completed an online survey regarding their experiences of ARC, body image variables, and eating disorder symptomology. Findings indicate the widespread occurrence of ARC among adolescent females, with body shape and size emerging as predominant targets. Experiences of ARC-victimisation positively correlated with increased concerns about body shape, body shame, and eating disorder symptomology. Conversely, experiences of ARC-victimisation were negatively correlated with body esteem and body appreciation. Finally, appearance-related cybervictimisation was significantly associated with adolescent females' desire to pursue appearance alterations through methods such as dieting and exercising, altering self-presentation, and undergoing cosmetic procedures due to perceived experiences of ARC. These findings highlight the urgent need for preventative measures, such as age-appropriate social media policies and health promotion programs that encourage positive online behaviour, and strategies to address the impacts of ARC to protect the mental well-being of adolescent females.Cyberbullying is associated with various mental health concerns in adolescents, including body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviours. However, there is a significant research gap concerning the unique effects of appearance-related cyberbullying (ARC) on adolescent mental health. This study examined the prevalence and psychological consequences of ARC among middle to late adolescent females (aged 14-19 years, Mage = 15.98, N = 336). Participants completed an online survey regarding their experiences of ARC, body image variables, and eating disorder symptomology. Findings indicate the widespread occurrence of ARC among adolescent females, with body shape and size emerging as predominant targets. Experiences of ARC-victimisation positively correlated with increased concerns about body shape, body shame, and eating disorder symptomology. Conversely, experiences of ARC-victimisation were negatively correlated with body esteem and body appreciation. Finally, appearance-related cybervictimisation was significantly associated with adolescent females' desire to pursue appearance alterations through methods such as dieting and exercising, altering self-presentation, and undergoing cosmetic procedures due to perceived experiences of ARC. These findings highlight the urgent need for preventative measures, such as age-appropriate social media policies and health promotion programs that encourage positive online behaviour, and strategies to address the impacts of ARC to protect the mental well-being of adolescent females.

Details

Title: Appearance-related cyberbullying and its association with the desire to alter physical appearance among adolescent females
Authors: Taliah Prince (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson Institute
Kate E Mulgrew (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - Psychology
Christina Driver (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson Institute
Lia Mills (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson Institute
Jehan Loza (Author)
Daniel F Hermens (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson Institute
Publication details: Journal of Eating Cisorders, Vol.12, pp.1-16
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd.
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.1186/s40337-024-01083-z
ISSN: 2050-2974
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Data Availability: No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
Grant note: The first author was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. This research is supported by the Australian Commonwealth Government’s ‘Prioritising Mental Health Initiative’ (2018-25).
Organisation Unit: Graduate Research School; Thompson Institute; Cancer Research Cluster; School of Health - Psychology
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991060560302621
Output Type: Journal article

Metrics

7 File views/ downloads

68 Record Views

11 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Web Of Science research areas: Nutrition & Dietetics; Psychiatry; Psychology, Clinical

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites