ArticleThe International journal of eating disorders2023
Women's body dissatisfaction, physical appearance comparisons, and Instagram use throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study.
Article in The International journal of eating disorders, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Everyday Digital Technology Use and Youth Health: Scoping Review of Longitudinal Studies.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
- Comparison of depressive symptoms and eating behaviors among Japanese university students with subthreshold depression before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Unveiling the Moderating Factors in the Relationship between Physical Activity and Health-Related Quality of Life among University Students during COVID-19: A Mixed Study Design.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The healthy eating movement on social media and its psychological effects on body image.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Prospectively predicting naturalistic exposure to fitspiration and thinspiration in young women with disordered eating by leveraging an ecological momentary assessment design.Eating behaviors · 2023Article
- Women's body dissatisfaction, physical appearance comparisons, and Instagram use throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study.The International journal of eating disorders · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study aimed to determine the evolution of Instagram use, body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons throughout the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and to explore whether there was a relationship between the changes in Instagram use throughout the pandemic and body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons.
methodA total of 272 Spanish women (16-70 years old) were followed-up across four waves of assessment between November 2019 (before the pandemic started) and July 2021. Body dissatisfaction, social appearance comparisons, and Instagram use were assessed using the Eating Disorders Inventory-3, the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised, and an ad hoc questionnaire for Instagram use, respectively.
resultsNo statistically significant changes were found in the frequency of Instagram use, nor on the proportion of women following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram, among the data collection periods. Body dissatisfaction significantly increased from T1 to T4, and physical appearance comparisons significantly increased from T1 to T2, T3, and T4. These increases were not found to be significant for those with eating disorder risk. No significant differences were found in body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons depending on whether participants' frequency of Instagram use had changed or remained the same, or whether they had started/stopped/continued following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram during the pandemic. DISCUSSION: Women's body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons seem to have increased throughout the pandemic. The experiences of individuals with eating disorder risk throughout the pandemic, and the relationship between the pandemic and Instagram use, might be complex and need further research. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: This study suggests that women's body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons have increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this increase might not be as clear for those who had eating disorder risk before the pandemic. Instagram frequency of use, and the percentage of women following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram, do not seem to have significantly increased. More research is needed to explore the impact of the pandemic.
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