title: NetGirls: the Internet, Facebook, and body image concern in adolescent girls.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The primary aim of the study was to examine the relationship between Internet exposure and body image concern in adolescent girls, with a particular focus on the social networking site of Facebook.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 1,087 girls in the first two years (Years 8 and 9) of high school (aged 13-15 years) completed questionnaire measures of Internet consumption and body image concerns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overwhelming majority of girls (95.9%) had access to the Internet in their home. Time spent on the Internet was significantly related to internalization of the thin ideal, body surveillance, and drive for thinness. Further, 75% of the girls had a Facebook profile, and spent an average of 1.5 hours there daily. Facebook users scored significantly more highly on all body image concern measures than non-users.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was concluded that the Internet represents a potent socio-cultural medium of relevance to the body image of adolescent girls.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: Marika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiggemann
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Slater
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008402:Mass Media; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013851:Thinness
keywords: Facebook; Internet; adolescents; body image; drive for thinness; media exposure