The impact of appearance-focussed social media and self-objectification on mood

Viewing appearance-focussed social media (e.g., thinspiration, fitspiration, body positivity) is associated with increased self-objectification in women. However, it is unclear how increases in self-objectification directly relate to momentary differences in mood when viewing different types of social media content, and whether a general tendency to self-objectify enhances vulnerability to negative moods in this context. The current study used a within-subjects experimental design to examine momentary differences in self-objectification and mood across five categories of TikTok videos (three appearance-focussed; two neutral). 323 women and feminine-identifying people reported on their general disposition to self-objectify before viewing a randomized set of 20 TikTok videos. After each video, participants reported state levels of self-objectification along with positive and negative affect. Individuals with a greater tendency to self-objectify reported more state self-objectification after viewing thinspiration and body positive content and were more vulnerable to increases in negative mood after viewing thinspiration. Interestingly, increases in state self-objectification were linked to increases in positive mood after viewing body positive content. Trait self-objectification had no effect on positive mood across video categories. These results shed light on the conflicting effects of self-objectification on social media induced mood and self-objectification.