Abstract

The rapid growth of social media has greatly altered the social and psychological lifestyles of adolescents, especially when it comes to body image and self-esteem. This study examines how social media affects the perspective of self-image among teenage girls aged between 15 and 18 years in the Pakistani sociocultural background. The study narrows down to the age variations between younger adolescents (15-16 years, classes 9-10) and older adolescents (17-18 years, HSSC first and second year), and the influences of social media exposure, family life, peer relationships, and cultural orientations on body image concerns. The research design adopted was a qualitative in nature; a focus group discussion and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 adolescent girls were adopted. Thematic analysis was used to find out significant patterns and meanings in the experiences lived by the participants. The data gave rise to five significant themes: social media use, appearance concern, social comparison, self-comparison on social media, and cultural factors influencing negative body image. The results indicate that Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube social media sites are a key part of the everyday life of adolescents and a major cause of unrealistic beauty ideals. Even though younger adolescents were more restricted by their parents, they also had equal effects of online content. There was a higher exposure, independence, and susceptibility to appearance-related anxiety and dissatisfaction in older adolescents. Social comparison was observed to work both online and offline, which was supported by peer interactions, family remarks, and culturally predetermined ideals of beauty. Strong cultural preferences towards fair skin and thin body shapes further deteriorated negative body image and emotional distress. This thesis comes up with the conclusion that interactions between social media in combination with cultural norms and social environments affect the body image and psychological state of adolescent girls significantly. The study suggests parental guidance (age- based), media literacy education, positive school climate, culturally-reflective interventions, and policy-based approaches as effective to enhance positive body image and mental health among adolescent girls.