Brief Mindfulness Meditation Protects Chinese Young Women’s Body Image from Appearance-Focused Social Media exposure：An Online Randomised Controlled Trial

A brief ten-minute mindfulness meditation audio helped buffer young Chinese women against the negative effects of viewing idealized body images on social media. In an online randomized trial, 168 women aged 18–35 were assigned to either a mindfulness meditation or a natural history audio. After listening, both groups improved in body dissatisfaction and mood. However, when later exposed to idealized images on Xiaohongshu, only the meditation group maintained its improvements, while the control group's body dissatisfaction and mood worsened significantly. The findings suggest that even a short mindfulness intervention may protect against appearance-focused social media's adverse impacts.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Objectives: Exposure to appearance-focused social media often leads to body image disturbance among young women. One promising intervention to lessen this negative impact is mindfulness meditation. This study aimed to determine whether a brief mindfulness meditation intervention could mitigate the adverse effects of exposure to appearance-focused social media content on body image and mood in young Chinese women. Methods: In an online randomized controlled trial, 168 women aged 18–35 years were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 86) that listened to a ten-minute mindfulness meditation audio, or to a control group (n = 82) that listened to a ten-minute recorded natural history text. After listening to the audio, participants viewed idealized body images on Xiaohongshu and compared themselves to these images. Outcome measures included state body dissatisfaction and negative mood. Data were collected at baseline, post-intervention, and post-exposure to images. Results: At baseline, groups did not differ in age, BMI, education, body dissatisfaction, or negative mood (all p > 0.05). From baseline to post-intervention, both groups showed significant improvements in body dissatisfaction and mood. The intervention group’s scores decreased significantly (p = 0.002; p < 0.01), and the control group also showed significant improvements on both outcome measures (both p < 0.001). However, when exposed to the idealized images, only the intervention group maintained its improvements, with no significant change in body dissatisfaction or mood (p = 0.742 and p = 0.164, respectively), whereas the control group’s scores worsened significantly on both outcome measures (p < 0.001 for both). Conclusions: These findings suggest that even a brief mindfulness meditation intervention may buffer against the negative effects of idealized social media content on body image and mood.