No abstract

Substance use increases during emerging adulthood and may relate to higher concurrent and future problems. For a community sample of 140 emerging adults, this study explores the associations between reported alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco use in 12th grade, the content of public posts and private messaging on Facebook during the fall after 12th grade, and self-reported substance use 1 year after high school. About one quarter of participants discussed substances publicly, and nearly half discussed substances privately on Facebook as observationally coded by researchers. Twelfth-grade substance use predicted the probability of engaging in public and private substance-related discussions. Tobacco and marijuana use predicted the frequency of private messaging about substances. Public and private online substance discussions predicted positive changes in marijuana use 1 year later. Results from this study suggest that social media discussions about substances, particularly private messages, may signal and shape emerging adults’ substance use behaviors.

Snapchat allows users to apply lenses to photographic content, with these lenses often enhancing physical appearance. This may lead users to adopt unrealistic ideals of physical appearance. In a two-part study with college students, this investigation explored associations between general use of Snapchat lenses and body image concerns, and experimentally examined how taking selfies with Snapchat lenses influences appearance satisfaction. Taking more photos using Snapchat lenses, in general, was associated with greater body image concerns. However, there was little experimental evidence indicating that taking selfies with lenses influences state appearance satisfaction relative to an appearance-neutral control. There was no evidence of gender moderation. Notably, taking more selfies without lenses until reaching one satisfactory for posting on social media was associated with greater body image concerns.

Frequent use of highly visual online platforms such as Instagram may be linked to greater body image concerns. One prominent feature of Instagram is the ability to receive feedback in the form of likes and comments. The goal of this cross-sectional study (conducted in laboratory and online) was to examine college students' receipt of appearance commentary on their most recent Instagram posts and how this relates to their self-reported body image concerns. The Instagram commentary that 337 students (M age = 20.39) received on their posts was observationally coded for positivity and negativity. Receiving positive appearance commentary was common and linked to greater appearance-related social media consciousness and, weakly, to body surveillance. There were no associations with self-objectification, appearance-contingent self-worth, facial satisfaction, and body dissatisfaction. Negative appearance commentary was not associated with body image concerns. Photos depicting only the self were especially likely to elicit positive appearance commentary. Females received more positive appearance commentary compared to males, whereas males received more negative appearance commentary. Future research should examine long-term effects of receiving appearance comments via Instagram.

Adolescents are immersed in an appearance culture sustained by their peers, which includes being exposed to norms and expectations of physical attractiveness. A new avenue for transmitting these appearance messages may be digital technologies, including text messaging. Little is known about how appearance messages may naturalistically occur in adolescents' text communication. This study employed observational methods to quantitatively and qualitatively examine the transmission of appearance evaluative text messages in an ethnically diverse sample of U.S. 10th graders (Mage = 15.98, 47% girls). Quantitative descriptive analyses indicated that appearance evaluative texting was relatively infrequent but was still observed in text messages sent by over half of participants. These text messages were typically positive, but valence varied depending on toward whom the evaluation was targeted. Receiving these appearance evaluative messages was correlated with lower global self‐worth. A qualitative content analysis suggested that appearance evaluative messages serve to (a) provide a negative or positive assessment of the self, (b) transmit and elicit feedback, and (c) cultivate a culture within romantic partnerships in which appearance is valued. Findings are discussed in the context of existing digital theories (i.e., co‐construction theory, the transformation approach) and appearance‐oriented theories (i.e., objectification theory).