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Abstract

The previous studies have consistently shown that the media’s promotion of the thin ideal negatively impacts women’s body image and mood. This experimental study examined the effects of Instagram images of thin-ideal versus higher-weight celebrities on young women’s mood, body image, and state appearance comparison. A purposive sample of 176 university students (Mage = 20.43, SD = 1.87) was selected, with half exposed to 15 thin-ideal celebrity images (experimental group) and half to 15 higher-weight celebrity images (comparison group). Assessments used the Visual Analog Scale (Heinberg & Thompson, 1995) and the State Appearance Comparison Scale (Tiggemann & McGill, 2004). Findings demonstrated that thin-ideal celebrity images led to more negative mood, lower body satisfaction, and increased state appearance comparison. State appearance comparison partially mediated the relationship between exposure and both mood and body image. These results highlight the psychological effects of exposure to thin-ideal celebrity images among young women.