Tweet Facebook Mail Watching just a few minutes of videos on TikTok can negatively impact a woman's body image, new research has found. Scientists headed by Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, New South Wales ,surveyed 273 women aged 18 to 28 on their body image and beauty standards, before they were split into two groups. Both watched different eight-minute selections of TikTok videos.
READ MORE: Lyles taken from track in wheelchair after stunning defeat Experts are concerned watching less than 10 minutes of eating disorder videos on TikTok can leave young women with psychological harm.. (AP) One group watched content about eating disorder, including young women starving themselves or providing weight loss tips alongside juice cleanse and workout videos.
The other half of participants watched nature, cooking and animal videos. Both groups reported a decrease in body image satisfaction after watching the videos, but those exposed to pro-anorexia content had the biggest decrease. They also showed an increase in internalisation of unrealistic beauty standards.
The athletes going viral at the Olympic Games View Gallery The researchers say the results confirms young women were potentially at higher risk of developing an eating disorder after watching pro-anorexia content on TikTok. They are calling for better control over pro-anorexia content on the platform. "Our study showed that less than 10 minutes of exposure to implicit and explicit pro-anorexia TikTok content had immediate negative consequences for body image states and internalisation of appearance ideals, suggesting psychological harm can occur for young female TikTok users even when explicit pro-anorexia content is not sought out and when TikTok use is of a short duration.
" The findings were published in the journal Plos One ..
