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Chapter 6 - Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness (ASMC) Scale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2025

Virginia Ramseyer Winter
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Tracy L. Tylka
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Antoinette M. Landor
Affiliation:
University of Missouri
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Summary

The 13-item Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness Scale (ASMC Scale; Choukas-Bradley et al., 2020) assesses appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC) – i.e., ongoing awareness of one’s physical attractiveness to an online audience. The ASMC Scale can be administered online or in-person to adolescents and adults and is free to use in any setting. In this chapter, we discuss the development of the scale and provide evidence of its psychometric properties. The ASMC Scale is unidimensional, with evidence of partial measurement invariance across gender (comparing girls/women and boys/men). Internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and incremental validity support the use of the scale with adolescents and adults. Next, we provide the ASMC Scale items in their entirety, instructions for administering the scale to participants, the response scale, the scoring procedure, and information about known translations (Chinese/Mandarin, Spanish, Turkish). Additionally, we provide logistical information, such as permissions, copyright, contact information, and considerations for alterations (e.g., related to short-term video-based social media). We also discuss initial findings related to ASMC, including gender differences in mean levels (with girls/women reporting higher levels of ASMC than boys/men), and evidence of associations between ASMC and offline body image and mental health constructs.

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References

Choukas-Bradley, S., Nesi, J., Widman, L., & Galla, B. M. (2020). The Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness Scale: Development and validation with adolescents. Body Image, 33, 164174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.017.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Choukas-Bradley, S., Nesi, J., Widman, L., & Higgins, M. K. (2019). Camera-ready: Young women’s appearance-related social media consciousness. Psychology of Popular Media, 8(4), 473481. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choukas-Bradley, S., Roberts, S. R., Maheux, A. J., & Nesi, J. (2022). The perfect storm: A developmental–sociocultural framework for the role of social media in adolescent girls’ body image concerns and mental health. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 25, 681701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-022-00404-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maheux, A. J., Burnell, K., & Choukas-Bradley, S. (2024). Bidirectional associations between online and offline appearance concerns during early-to-middle adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 60, 18851901. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001795.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maheux, A. J., Laurenceau, J. P., Roberts, S. R., Nesi, J., Widman, L., & Choukas-Bradley, S. (2024). Longitudinal change in appearance-related social media consciousness and depressive symptoms: A within-person analysis during early-to-middle adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 53, 22872299. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-024-01998-5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maheux, A. J., Roberts, S. R., Nesi, J., Widman, L., & Choukas-Bradley, S. (2022a). Longitudinal associations between appearance-related social media consciousness and adolescents’ depressive symptoms. Journal of Adolescence, 94(2), 264269. http://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12009.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maheux, A. J., Roberts, S. R., Nesi, J., Widman, L., & Choukas-Bradley, S. (2022b). Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness Scale among emerging adults. Body Image, 43, 6374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.08.002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swami, V., & Barron, D. (2019). Translation and validation of body image instruments: Challenges, good practice guidelines, and reporting recommendations for test adaptation. Body Image, 31, 204220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2018.08.014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swami, V., Todd, J., & Barron, D. (2021). Translation and validation of body image instruments: An addendum to Swami and Barron (2019) in the form of frequently asked questions. Body Image, 37, 214224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.03.002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

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