South Asian women in the United Kingdom: The role of skin colour dissatisfaction in acculturation experiences and body dissatisfaction.

South Asian women living in Western cultures may experience skin colour dissatisfaction, as fair skin is an important South Asian appearance ideal, whilst visible ethnic differences in their skin colour may lead to appearance-related ethnic teasing from members from the mainstream culture. This study investigates whether appearance-related ethnic teasing is indirectly associated with body dissatisfaction via skin colour dissatisfaction and explores the relationship between appearance-related ethnic teasing, cultural identification and skin colour dissatisfaction amongst first-generation South Asian women living in the United Kingdom. South Asian women (N = 98; 18-55 years, M = 24.60) completed an online questionnaire that measured appearance-related ethnic teasing, skin colour dissatisfaction, cultural identification, and body dissatisfaction. Appearance-related ethnic teasing was indirectly linked with greater body dissatisfaction via greater skin colour dissatisfaction. Appearance-related ethnic teasing was linked with stronger British identification, a greater sense of having an integrated identity and greater skin colour dissatisfaction. South Asian identification was associated with greater skin colour dissatisfaction. These findings suggest that skin colour dissatisfaction is an important link between appearance-related ethnic teasing and acculturating South Asian women's body image.

Body Positivity, but not for everyone: The role of model size in exposure effects on women's mood, body satisfaction, and food choice.

Body Positivity (or 'BoPo') social media content may be beneficial for women's mood and body image, but concerns have been raised that it may reduce motivation for healthy behaviours. This study examines differences in women's mood, body satisfaction, and hypothetical food choices after viewing BoPo posts (featuring average or larger women) or a neutral travel control. Women (N = 167, 81.8 % aged 18-29) were randomly assigned in an online experiment to one of three conditions (BoPo-average, BoPo-larger, or Travel/Control) and viewed three Instagram posts for two minutes, before reporting their mood and body satisfaction, and selecting a meal from a hypothetical menu. Women who viewed the BoPo posts featuring average-size women reported more positive mood than the control group; women who viewed posts featuring larger women did not. There were no effects of condition on negative mood or body satisfaction. Women did not make less healthy food choices than the control in either BoPo condition; women who viewed the BoPo images of larger women showed a stronger association between hunger and calories selected. These findings suggest that concerns over BoPo promoting unhealthy behaviours may be misplaced, but further research is needed regarding women's responses to different body sizes.

'When you think of exercising, you don't really want to think of puking, tears, and pain': Young adolescents' understanding of fitness and #fitspiration.

Adolescents access information about fitness, including content labelled as #fitspiration, through social media. A total of 77 adolescents (mean age = 12.49; standard deviation = 0.55; girls = 27) participated in semi-structured focus groups to explore their perspectives on #fitspiration and fitness more broadly. Through inductive thematic analysis, four themes were developed: (1) fitness enhances physical function and appearance, but these are not always linked; (2) fitness is transformative but requires hard work; (3) fitness should be an intrinsically motivated personal choice; and (4) pain in the pursuit of fitness. Findings highlight young adolescents' complex understandings of fitness negotiated through their critical interpretation of #fitspiration.

"I just feel so guilty": The role of introjected regulation in linking appearance goals for exercise with women's body image.

Appearance goals for exercise are consistently associated with negative body image, but research has yet to consider the processes that link these two variables. Self-determination theory offers one such process: introjected (guilt-based) regulation of exercise behavior. Study 1 investigated these relationships within a cross-sectional sample of female UK students (n=215, 17-30 years). Appearance goals were indirectly, negatively associated with body image due to links with introjected regulation. Study 2 experimentally tested this pathway, manipulating guilt relating to exercise and appearance goals independently and assessing post-test guilt and body anxiety (n=165, 18-27 years). The guilt manipulation significantly increased post-test feelings of guilt, and these increases were associated with increased post-test body anxiety, but only for participants in the guilt condition. The implications of these findings for self-determination theory and the importance of guilt for the body image literature are discussed.

The relationship between materialism and personal well-being: A meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis investigates the relationship between individuals' materialistic orientation and their personal well-being. Theoretical approaches in psychology agree that prioritizing money and associated aims is negatively associated with individuals' well-being but differ in their implications for whether this is invariably the case. To address these and other questions, we examined 753 effect sizes from 259 independent samples. Materialism was associated with significantly lower well-being for the most widely used, multifaceted measures (materialist values and beliefs, r = -.19, ρ = -.24; relative importance of materialist goals, r = -.16, ρ = -.21), more than for measures assessing emphasis on money alone (rs = -.08 to -.11, ρs = -.09 to -.14). The relationship also depended on type of well-being outcome, with largest effects for risky health and consumer behaviors and for negative self-appraisals (rs = -.28 to -.44, ρs = -.32 to -.53) and weakest effects for life satisfaction and negative affect (rs = -.13 to -.15, ρs = -.17 to -.18). Moderator analyses revealed that the strength of the effect depended on certain demographic factors (gender and age), on value context (study/work environments that support materialistic values and cultures that emphasize affective autonomy), and on cultural economic indicators (economic growth and wealth differentials). Mediation analyses suggested that the negative link may be explained by poor psychological need satisfaction. We discuss implications for the measurement of materialist values and the need for theoretical and empirical advances to explore underlying processes, which likely will require more experimental, longitudinal, and developmental research.