Unmasking the Impact: Instagram Use, Body Image Satisfaction, and the Mediating Role of Body Ideals for Black American Emerging Adult Women

The body image satisfaction of Black American women is at risk of declining due to Instagram engagement, as studies have shown that using this social media platform has been linked to body image concerns. Using sociocultural theory and the social media “teleco-presence” theory of identity, the goal of this study is to examine the mediating effect of body ideals on the relationship between Instagram engagement and body image satisfaction for African American emerging adult women. Quantitative data was collected from participants using Amazon MTurk (N = 101). Data was analyzed using SPSS Process Macro with bootstrapping. Results revealed that the path from Instagram engagement to body ideals was negative and statistically significant; the path from Instagram engagement to body image satisfaction was positive and significant; the path from body ideals to body image satisfaction was negative and statistically significant; and the indirect effect was statistically significant. Results illustrate that Instagram engagement predicts increases in body image satisfaction and is partially mediated by the internalization of body ideals among emerging adult Black American women. Implications for social media use are discussed.