Social Media, Body Image, and Economic Decisions

Last registered on December 26, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social Media, Body Image, and Economic Decisions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014958
Initial registration date
December 03, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
December 09, 2024, 4:50 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
December 26, 2024, 5:37 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Nancy Wang
Affiliation
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Hannah Solheim
PI Affiliation
Columbia University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-11-12
End date
2027-06-01
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Health
Additional Keywords
Social media
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The rise of social media has coincided with growing mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, especially among girls and young women. This project investigates how the type of content an individual is exposed to on social media influences their body image and economic decisions. We conduct an online field experiment on TikTok in which young female TikTok users are randomly assigned to view content featuring creators of certain body sizes. We will test how being exposed to creators of various body sizes affects their (1) social media use, (2) beauty standards, (3) well-being, and (4) attitudes and behaviors towards others.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Solheim, Hannah and Nancy Wang. 2024. "Social Media, Body Image, and Economic Decisions." AEA RCT Registry. December 26. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14958-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-12-03
Intervention End Date
2027-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Primary outcomes include social media use (how participants interact with and experience the researcher-created account), measures of beauty ideals (i.e., ideal body shape), view of self and well-being (i.e., body appreciation), and view of others (i.e., anti-fat attitudes).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary outcomes fall into the same categories as the primary outcomes: (1) social media content consumed, (2) beauty ideals, (3) view of self, and (4) view and treatment of others.

(1) Social media consumed will include:
- Social media consumed in participants’ own personal accounts
- Other social media activity

(2) Beauty Ideals include:
- Body ideals
- Knowledge about the average body size in the US

(3) View of self:
- Body image
- Physical health and health behaviors
- Mental health

(4) View and Treatment of others:
- Anti-fat attitudes (explicit and implicit)
- Beauty ratings
- Social preferences and discrimination
- Body positive activism
- Empathy

For outcome categories (2) to (4), we will also create standardized indices of the above outcomes. We will also analyze self-reported outcomes and revealed-preference measures separately.

More detail is provided in the attached document.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will have 1 treatment arm and 2 controls with randomization at the individual level. All participants will complete recruitment, baseline, midline 1, midline 2, and endline surveys over 8 weeks.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
875
Sample size: planned number of observations
875
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We plan to randomize 875 participants in fixed proportions: 50% in the treatment group, 30% in active control, and 20% in the passive control. We may change the sample size after hearing results from grant applications.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Given our current design and assuming 85% take-up for the two-week intervention, we calculate the following MDEs, reported in standard errors, for our continuous main outcomes. We plan for our main analyses to be between the treatment and active control arms. However, we may pool the controls for power. We may also compare the treatment to the passive control, and the active control to the passive control. • Treatment vs. pooled controls: 0.2 SD • Treatment vs. active control: 0.24 SD • Treatment vs. passive control: 0.27 SD • Active control vs. passive control: 0.3 SD
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Columbia University
IRB Approval Date
2024-08-08
IRB Approval Number
IRB-AAAV3856
Analysis Plan

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