Annotated Bibiliography

For this paper, I am researching the effect that social media has on young women and their
body-image. I will be focuses my research on high school and college age girls. I
will also be specifically looking at how social media affects, and in some ways
encourages, the development of eating disorders in this age group of girls. I believe
that this is a very important and relevant topic that needs to be addressed and
changed. The number of young girls with eating disorders is increasing and I
believe that a lot of that has to do with the recent increase in social media use
because of how it portrays women and tells them they need to be skinny in order to
be popular or successful.
"Does Social Media really Encourage Eating Disorders?" India Pharma News (2011)Print.
Eating Disorders. Rowman Littlefield Publishers, 2007. Print.
Ferguson, Christopher, et al. "Concurrent and Prospective Analyses of Peer, Television and
Social Media Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, Eating Disorder Symptoms and
Life Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls." Journal of youth and adolescence 43.1
(2014): 1-14. Print.
This is article provides background for and a description of a study conducted by
professors and students of psychology at Texas A&M. The four main authors of
this article are the department chair of psychology, assistant professor of
psychology, and graduate student in psychology and an undergraduate student in
psychology. All four of these authors focus their research on the media and its
affect on behavior. The article describes a study they conducted to analyze the
relationship between television and social media use and body dissatisfaction

among teenage girls, mostly Hispanic. The results of the study were fairly
inconclusive. It was found that peer competition has a negative correlation with
body dissatisfaction. While social media did not show this same correlation, it did
show a correlation with peer competition, which could then ultimately lead to more
body image issues among teen girls. This study, along with many other studies that
have been done on the same topic have been inconsistent in results. There are still
few studies that have been done that specifically involve the effect of social media.
I could use this article In many ways. Certain parts of the article support my claim
that social media affects girls body image in a negative way. I could also use it as
a counter-argument because their study did not lead to any conclusive results to
support my claim.
Hanes, Stephanie. "Facebook may Amplify Eating Disorders and Poor Body Image."
Christian Science Monitor (2012): N.PAG. Print.
Stephanie Hanes, the author of this article, is the founding writer for Modern
Parenthood and is a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. She is a wellpublished author that writes on many topics, mainly environment and health issues.
In this article, she reports on a study completed by the Center for Eating Disorders
in Baltimore. This study claims that Facebook use leads to an increase in body
dissatisfaction and low self-esteem in users, especially young girls. This body
dissatisfaction, the article claims, may ultimately lead to eating disorders. This
article supports my claim about the affect social media has on eating disorders.
This specific article is just a short report and summary of a study done by other
doctors. I could, however, use this article to find the original study, which probably

discusses the results in more detail. The article provides me with a study and doctor
advice on the affect that social media has on young girls that can help me support
my research claim.
Kilbourne, Jean. Slim Hopes Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness., 2002. Print.
Mabe, Annalise G., K. J. Forney, and Pamela K. Keel. "Do You 'Like' My Photo?
Facebook use Maintains Eating Disorder Risk." International Journal of Eating
Disorders 47.5 (2014): 516-23. Print.
Meier, Evelyn P., and James Gray. "Facebook Photo Activity Associated with Body Image
Disturbance in Adolescent Girls." CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social
Networking 17.4 (2014): 199-206. Print.
Reaves, Shiela. "Rethinking Visual Ethics: Evolution, Social Comparison and the Media's
Mono-Body in the Global Rise of Eating Disorders." Journal of Mass Media Ethics
26.2 (2011): 114-34. Print.
Sifferlin, Alexandra. "How Facebook Contributes to Eating Disorders." Time.com (2013):
1-. Print.
Smith, April R., Jennifer L. Hames, and Thomas E. Joiner. "Status Update: Maladaptive
Facebook Usage Predicts Increases in Body Dissatisfaction and Bulimic
Symptoms." Journal of affective disorders 149.1-3 (2013): 235-40. Print.
"Thin Cases." Economist 405.8813 (2012): 68-. Print.
Tiggemann, Marika, and Amy Slater. "NetGirls: The Internet, Facebook, and Body Image
Concern in Adolescent Girls." The International journal of eating disorders 46.6
(2013): 630-3. Print.

Williamson, Harriet. "Beware of the Dangerous Fetishising of Fitness on Social Media

First Came 'Thinspiration', the Glorification of Super Thin Body Images Posted on
Tumblr and Pinterest. Now it's all about 'Fitspiration', which is Equally as
Dangerous, Warns Harriet Williamson." Telegraph Online (2013)Print.
Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. Media and Body Image., 2005. Print.
Yadegaran, Jessica. "Thigh Gap: What's Behind a Dangerous Teen Body Image
Obsession." Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA) (2013)Print.