• A Charles Sturt University academic conducted an experiment to determine the impact of ‘pro-anorexia’ TikTok content on young women
• The experiment found viewing seven to eight minutes of pro-anorexia TikTok content significantly increased body dissatisfaction and internalisation of societal beauty standards
• The research has been published in scientific research journal PLOS ONE

A Charles Sturt University academic has revealed the detrimental effects of TikTok-based pro-anorexia content on the mental health, body image and eating behaviours of young females.

The experimental study was conducted by senior lecturer in the Charles Sturt School of Psychology Dr Rachel Hogg and psychology student Ms Madison Blackburn.

They analysed a sample of 273 female-identifying individuals aged 18-28 to explore the influence of explicit disordered eating and ‘fitspiration’ content on body image satisfaction and the internalisation of beauty standards.

A control group watched 7-8 minutes of ‘neutral’ content. Example scenes covered nature, cooking videos, animals and comedy clips. Another group watched 7-8 minutes of explicit, disordered eating content showing scenarios such as young women restricting their food, making jokes about disordered eating behaviour, starving themselves and sharing weight loss tips.

Dr Hogg said despite the short time frame of the experiment the results were clear and alarming.

“We found that viewing just seven to eight minutes of pro-anorexia TikTok content significantly increased body dissatisfaction and internalisation of societal beauty standards,” Dr Hogg said.

“We know that most TikTok users spend much longer than this on TikTok each day, so the change we saw for the experimental group from pre- to post-test may be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the negative long-term impacts.”

The research focused on TikTok specifically over other social media platforms given its unique algorithm-based content delivery.

Unlike other social media platforms where users have greater autonomy over the content generated on their homepage newsfeed, TikTok’s algorithm records data from single users and proposes videos designed to catch a user’s attention, specifically by creating a personalised ‘For You’ page.

This feed will suggest videos from any creator on the platform, not just followed accounts or those with large follower counts, and as such, if a user interacts with a video, such as liking, sharing, commenting or searching for related content, the algorithm will continue to produce similar videos on their ‘For You’ page. A user might even search for body positivity or anti-anorexia content, but end up exposed to pro-anorexia content because of the nature of the algorithm.

“This means that someone who simply views a video on, say, meal preparation or a gym workout could then be shown pro-anorexia content on their ‘For You’ page,” Dr Hogg said.

“Regardless of whether they are intentionally seeking out this content, there is every chance they will be subject to it.”

Dr Hogg said there was a surprising result from the experiment, noting some level of decrease in body image satisfaction for the control group.

“We didn't expect this as the control group video content had nothing to do with body image or appearance ideals, but one possible reason for this could be the repetition of administrating the ‘Body Image States Scale’ (BISS) within a short time period, causing participants to focus more attention on their appearance than usual,” she said.

With the study published online in scientific research journal PLOS ONE, Dr Hogg reiterated the urgent need for more stringent controls and regulations on TikTok to prevent the circulation of harmful pro-anorexia content.

The research recommended implementing effective controls within TikTok to restrict access to pro-anorexia content, as well as raising awareness about the potential psychological harm of disordered eating content and promoting healthy body image standards.

“Social media offers instant, quantifiable feedback coupled with idealised online imagery that may intersect with the value adolescents attribute to peer relationships and the sociocultural gender socialisation processes relevant to this period of development, creating the ‘perfect storm’ for young social media users, especially females,” Dr Hogg said.

“There is a critical need for cultural and organisational change to protect young users from the detrimental effects of such content.”