TikTok ‘thinspiration’ videos linked to self-objectification and mood

Viewing ‘thinspiration’ content on TikTok increases self-objectification and worsens mood, while viewing body-positive content also increases self-objectification but is linked to more positive mood, according to a study in PLOS One.

Self-objectification occurs when people feel their value is determined by their appearance, viewing themselves and their bodies as objects. Appearance-focused social media content includes thinspiration, which depicts a thin-ideal and promotes weight loss; fitspiration, containing fat-loss promotion messages; and body positivity content, promoting body acceptance and challenging thin/fit ideals. Researchers have questioned the beneficial nature of body positivity content, as well as the overall associations between self-objectification and mood.

In the new study, researchers recruited 323 women and feminine-identifying people who reported their general disposition to self-objectify before watching a randomised set of 20 TikTok videos spanning five categories: thinspiration, fitspiration, body positivity, general positive, and neutral. After each video, participants reported their self-objectification and mood levels.

Compared with watching positive videos, self-objectification was highest after viewing thinspiration (B=1.24), followed by body positive (B=0.98) and fitspiration (B=0.43) content. Thinspiration and fitspiration were both associated with increased negative mood and decreased positive mood compared with neutral videos. Body positive content, on the other hand, was associated with increased positive mood. Greater self-objectification after viewing body positive content strengthened this positive mood effect (B=6.49).

The study measured only momentary effects of viewing videos, so cannot determine longer-term effects, and participants did not complete a baseline mood or self-objectification measure before viewing videos. The sample was young and consisted largely of women of average body size, limiting generalisability.

However, the researchers conclude that appearance-focused social media content broadly increases self-objectification, but this is not always associated with negative outcomes. Future research could explore how to lessen the impacts of thinspiration and fitspiration on mood, they say, especially for those with a high tendency to self-objectify.

‘We found that women experienced negative emotions when viewing social media videos that idealise thinness,’ according to the authors. ‘Women who tend to value their appearance over their other qualities were especially vulnerable to negative mood after viewing thin-ideal videos. However, in the moment, these same appearance-focused thoughts may serve to boost mood when women engage with body positive videos.’