What makes social media the perfect storm for body image issues and depression in adolescent girls? Sophia Choukas-Bradley, associate professor of psychology in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, focuses her work on understanding how specific experiences with social media impact mental health.
“When I first started this work in 2014, I was told it was a waste of time. People said social media didn’t change teen interactions, it just gave them a new place to interact,” says Choukas-Bradley. “What I knew even back then was that it was not only a new tool; social media completely shifted the landscape of adolescent development.”
There is a large change during puberty where girls’ self-esteem drops, and mental health concerns sharply rise. One reason for this is what psychologists coin the “imaginary audience.” Adolescents assume everyone thinks about them as much as they think about themselves. With things like photo editing software and seeing the number of likes a post gets, social media only perpetuates this phenomenon.
Though Choukas-Bradley emphasizes that individuals can only do so much without top-down policy changes, there are ways to help combat these issues.
“We are living through an unprecedented mental health crisis among adolescents,” says Choukas-Bradley. “I work with television networks, government agencies, and national organizations to ensure we reach as many people as possible. I would not continue this research if I didn’t firmly believe that it will improve adolescents’ lives.”