Addressing the Negative Impact of Social Media on Body Image: An Online Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

Previous research has revealed negative effects of appearance-related social media content, such as fitspiration, on body satisfaction. However, specific interventions to reduce these detrimental effects are scarce. Therefore, this randomized controlled pilot trial investigated the efficacy of the four-week online intervention body image booster (BIBo), which aims to reduce the negative influence of social media on body image by addressing theoretically proposed underlying mechanisms.

N = 157 female participants with elevated eating disorder (ED) symptoms were randomly allocated to the BIBo training or a waitlist control condition (WLC). The final sample included n = 38 completers in the BIBo training group and n = 46 completers in the WLC. Before and after the four training sessions, ED symptoms and reactivity to fitspiration content were assessed, as well as body dissatisfaction, social comparison processes, and internalization of body ideals.

BIBo participants showed significant pre-post reductions in ED symptoms (d = -0.72) and reactivity to fitspiration content (d = -0.58), while WLC participants showed no significant change. The same pattern of results emerged for upward social comparison (d = -0.59), appearance comparison on social media (d = -0.89), body dissatisfaction (d = -0.40), and internalization of a thin body ideal (d = -0.42). There were no pre-post changes in internalization of muscularity or attractiveness ideals in either the BIBo or the WLC group.

Overall, the results suggest that BIBo is effective in altering pertinent outcome and mechanistic measures related to social media use and body image, demonstrating its therapeutic potential in the prevention and treatment of EDs.