Predicting Adolescents’ Self-Objectification from Sexualized Video Game and Instagram Use: A Longitudinal Study

Sex Roles https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-020-01187-1 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Predicting Adolescents’ Self-Objectification from Sexualized Video Game and Instagram Use: A Longitudinal Study Marika Skowronski 1 1 & Robert Busching & Barbara Krahé 1 # The Author(s) 2020 Abstract A growing body of research has demonstrated negative effects of sexualization in the media on adolescents’ body image, but longitudinal studies and research including interactive and social media are scarce. The current study explored the longitudinal associations of adolescents’ use of sexualized video games (SVG) and sexualized Instagram images (SII) with body image concerns. Specifically, our study examined relations between adolescents’ SVG and SII use and appearance comparisons, thinand muscular-ideal internalization, valuing appearance over competence, and body surveillance. A sample of 660 German adolescents (327 female, 333 male; Mage = 15.09 years) participated in two waves with an interval of 6 months. A structural equation model showed that SVG and SII use at Time 1 predicted body surveillance indirectly via valuing appearance over competence at Time 2. Furthermore, SVG and SII use indirectly predicted both thin- and muscular-ideal internalization through appearance comparisons at Time 1. In turn, thin-ideal internalization at Time 1 predicted body surveillance indirectly via valuing appearance over competence at Time 2. The results indicate that sexualization in video games and on Instagram can play an important role in increasing body image concerns among adolescents. We discuss the findings with respect to objectification theory and the predictive value of including appearance comparisons in models explaining the relation between sexualized media and self-objectification. Keywords Social media . Computer games . Sexualization . Body image . Self-objectification There has been growing evidence that sexualization in traditional media may increase body image concerns for adults and adolescents (Ward 2016). However, media use among adolescents has profoundly changed in the past decades: Television, movies, and magazines have experienced a sharp decline, whereas video gaming and social media use are on a constant rise (Twenge et al. 2019). At the same time, longitudinal studies on the topic are rare (Vandenbosch and Eggermont 2015, 2016), with only few longitudinal studies including Instagram use and no known longitudinal studies including video games. In the current study, we seek to explore the longitudinal Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-020-01187-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Marika Skowronski 1 Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany associations of sexualization in these media types with male and female adolescents’ body image concerns. Sexualization in Video Games and Instagram As defined by the American Psychological Association (APA), sexualization occurs when a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal while ignoring their personalities, when a person is treated as a sexual object, when sexuality is inappropriately imposed (e.g., in the case of children), and/or when a person’s physical attractiveness is equated with his or her sexiness (APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls 2007). Sexualization is common in media popular among teenagers. In top-selling video games, characters are frequently depicted with sexually revealing clothing or partially nude (Downs and Smith 2010). Both male and female characters often feature unrealistic body proportions (Dill and Thill 2007; Lynch et al. 2016). These findings particularly pertain to female characters who are more likely than male avatars to appear sexualized (Downs and Sex Roles Smith 2010). Various content analyses have further documented frequent sexualization on social media (Carrotte et al. 2017; Davis 2018; Tiggemann and Zaccardo 2018). Many of the most popular influencers of 2019 are models, fitness coaches, bodybuilders, and fashion and beauty bloggers (Hopper 2019) who are likely to post sexualized images of their bodies (Liu and Suh 2017). Moreover, popular Instagram trends like “fitspiration” feature images that usually contain sexualized elements, like scantily-clad people with a heavy emphasis on appearance ideals (Ghaznavi and Taylor 2015; Tiggemann and Zaccardo 2018). As in video games, women are more likely than men to be depicted in a sexualized manner within fitspiration imagery (Carrotte et al. 2017), yet both women and men are frequently depicted wearing revealing outfits or no clothing at all (Deighton-Smith and Bell 2018). In Germany, 64% of teenagers report using Instagram, which scores as the second most popular social medium after WhatsApp (Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest 2019). With adolescents spending almost 3 h per day on social media (DAK-Gesundheit 2017), they are likely to be exposed to a high number of images on a regular basis. In addition, 87% of teenagers report playing video games, with young women spending over 5 h and young men over 13 h per week gaming (Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest 2019). Taken together, these numbers draw a clear picture: The level of sexualized content is high on Instagram and in video games, and they are among the most popular media formats for current youth. Studies suggest that sexualization can have a negative impact on body image (Ward 2016). Given that adolescence is a particularly vulnerable phase for appearance-related social pressure (Helfert and Warschburger 2013), more research on the potentially adverse effects of sexualization in media popular among teenagers is needed. Objectification theory (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997) proposes an explanation on how sexualization in the media might affect body image concerns. Following Fredrickson and Roberts (1997), women in Western societies learn from an early age that their body is looked at and evaluated by others (objectification). As a result, women are socialized to take an observers’ perspective on themselves, valuing their body for its appearance and correspondence with society’s current appearance ideal. This process is called self-objectification. There have been different approaches to operationalizing the construct of self-objectification because researchers understand it as a multidimensional concept (Moradi 2011). At the cognitive level, it is manifested by women’s tendency to value appearance over competence (further referred to as valuing appearance); at the behavioral level, it is shown through persistent body surveillance (Calogero 2011). Both valuing appearance and body surveillance have been linked to a wide range of negative outcomes for women, such as eating disorders and depression (Peat and Muehlenkamp 2011; Tiggemann and Williams 2011). Although not exp (...truncated)