Elsevier

Body Image

Volume 33, June 2020, Pages 164-174
Body Image

The Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness Scale: Development and validation with adolescents

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.017Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • We introduce the Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness (ASMC) Scale.

  • The scale has strong psychometric properties among adolescents.

  • Adolescent girls report higher mean levels of ASMC than boys.

  • ASMC is associated with body image variables, disordered eating, depressive symptoms.

Abstract

Appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC) is defined as the extent to which individuals’ thoughts and behaviors reflect ongoing awareness of whether they might look attractive to a social media audience. In this 3-study paper, we report the development and validation of the ASMC Scale for adolescents. In Study 1, we developed 18 items and received input from adolescent focus groups and content experts, resulting in 13 items. In Study 2, we administered these items to a high school sample (N = 1227; 51.8 % girls; Mage = 15.72), completing an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis on two split halves. Results supported a single-factor solution with configural, metric, and partial scalar gender invariance. In Study 3, we administered the scale to a second high school sample (N = 226; 58.4 % girls; Mage = 16.25). ASMC scores demonstrated strong internal consistency, convergent and incremental validity, and test-retest reliability (measure re-administered for n = 207). Higher ASMC was associated with higher depressive and disordered eating symptoms, controlling for time on social media, gender, race/ethnicity, and body surveillance. Girls reported higher mean scores than boys. Findings support the use of this 13-item scale in reliably assessing adolescents’ ASMC, which may have important implications for mental health in the age of social media.

Keywords

Social media
Body image
Self-objectification
Disordered eating
Depression
Adolescence

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