Social Comparison and Body Image in Teenage Users of the TikTok App

Abstract

Teenagers have the concept of an ideal body image by interacting with the social environment in the form of social comparisons with other people. Social comparison is closely related to social media. TikTok is one of the video-based social media that is currently booming and loved by teenagers. This is because TikTok is one of the tools that helps relieve boredom during social goals due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This research is to find out the relationship between social comparisons and body image and find out the differences between boys and girls in doing social comparisons and body image.. The research subjects involved 62 respondents consisting of 31 men and 31 women aged 12-19 years who had or had a TikTok application account. The sampling technique in this research is purposive sampling. Social comparisons were measured using the Upward and Downward Physical Appearance Comparison Scale from O'Brien., et al (2009) and body image was measured using the Multidimensional Body-Self Relation Questionnaire-Appearance Scale (MBSRQ-AS) from Cash (2000). This research uses different and correlational test analysis techniques. The results of this study indicate that male adolescents make more social comparisons than female adolescents, but both have the same level of body image. Teenagers using TikTok have a significant positive relationship between social comparison and body image. That is, the higher the adolescents make social comparisons, the higher their body image and vice versa. The lower the adolescents make social comparisons, the lower their body image. In male adolescents, the relationship between social comparison and body image shows a positive relationship, while in female adolescents the negative relationship is not significant.