Exploring resilience as a moderator of social media appearance activity and body image concerns in adolescents

Considering their developmental sensitivities to peer approval and heightened self-consciousness, many adolescents experience body image concerns when engaging with visual social media. Using a sample of 885 adolescents aged 15-19 (M = 16.99, SD = 1.19; 61% girls, 39% boys), this study explored whether resilience to idealized media bodies and to negative appearance feedback buffered the links between social media appearance activity, body esteem, and self-objectification. While resilience to negative appearance feedback did not significantly moderate these associations, resilience to media ideals did, but in an unexpected direction. Adolescents with higher-than-average resilience who engaged more frequently in appearance activity reported greater self-objectification and lower body esteem, whereas those with lower-than-average resilience reported less self-objectification and higher body esteem. These results emerged for both girls and boys. Even though these results should be taken as preliminary, they suggest that resilience may play a more intricate role in adolescents' social media appearance activity and body image. Future studies should investigate this notion further and also acknowledge the reverse path, where resilience may build up from exposure to idealized bodies on social media.