Jolien Trekels

• PhD
• Post-Doctoral researcher at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Media effects research has observed significant diversity in the effects of social media on adolescent well-being, with outcomes ranging from positive to negative and, in some cases, neutral effects. In an effort to comprehend and elucidate this diversity, we have formulated The Swiss Cheese Model of Social Cues, a theoretical framework that system...

Adolescents are immersed in digital technologies, raising concerns among parents, teachers, scholars, and policymakers on how use may be affecting adolescent development. The affordances of digital technologies bear special relevance to declines in self-esteem and body image perceptions that occur during adolescence. One element of digital technolo...

Adolescents’ experiences with social media are complex and can impact their mental well-being differently. Our study aimed to understand how neurobiological sensitivities may moderate the association between different social media experiences and depressive symptoms. In a multi-wave study, 80 adolescents (Mage = 13.06, SD = .58) took part in an fMR...

Today’s social media landscape is highly complex with adolescents encountering multiple, and sometimes contradictory, messages simultaneously, leading to a need for a more active perspective on media effects. The current cross-sectional study aims to take a crucial first step in examining how adolescents’ exposure to contradictory appearance messag...

Selective exposure literature indicates that not all users take away the same messages from their media exposure; it is suggested that viewers are not merely exposed but rather reactive to multiple—and possibly opposing—messages. The current study aims to introduce an active media-processing perspective, focusing specifically on the media-body imag...

Adolescents are developmentally motivated to engage in social comparisons, and social media platforms provide abundant social information that facilitate comparisons. Despite the potential to trigger immediate emotional responses, little research has examined the day-to-day naturalistic occurrence of these comparisons and coinciding effects. Across...

Social media have transformed peer relationships among adolescents, providing new avenues to attain online status indicators such as likes and followers. This study aimed to explore the associations between various dispositional and social factors and digital status-seeking behaviors among a sample of adolescents (N = 731; Mage = 14.69, 48.7 percen...

This manuscript present a theoretical framework on social media effects among adolescents. The framework encompasses the complex layers of social cues present within platforms, the social environment, and individual (neuro)susceptibility, collectively shaping how social media influences the well-being of adolescents.

Research has shown that young individuals frequently turn to social networking sites (SNSs) to monitor others’ behaviors. This is especially likely with Snapchat, as this platform offers extensive monitoring options in real time, for instance through the use of the “snap map”. However, despite the growth of surveillance features, little is known ab...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, television and social media informed and entertained people. This cross-sectional study among adolescents and young adults (n = 859, 71.94% female, Mage=20.55, SDage=4.59) examined the associations between pro- and anti-governmental (social) media and youth’s violations of the lockdown measures following the prototype...

The aim of the present investigation was to develop a comprehensive tool to measure positive sexuality among adolescents. We first conducted an extensive literature review to develop the Positive Sexuality in Adolescence Scale (PSAS). We also conducted focus group interviews with adolescents (N = 14) to explore their understanding of positive sexua...

An active audience perspective on media effects suggests that viewers are not merely exposed but rather reactive to multiple – and possibly opposing – messages. Studies taking account of idealized and counter-idealized messages simultaneously are, however, lacking. Considering that diverse messages are abundantly present in appearance media, the cu...

In this study, we aimed to offer a conceptualization of positive body image during adolescence and psychometrically examine a new scale developed to measure this conceptualization. A literature review on positive body image and adolescence was conducted, which shaped the development of the Positive Body Image among Adolescents Scale (PBIAS). In Stu...

This cross-national survey among Austrian, Belgian, Spanish, and South Korean boys and girls (N = 1,983; M age = 14.41, SD = 1.08) investigated the association between mass media use, self-objectification, and positive body image. In doing so, we (a) extended existing research on the link between media use and positive body image by including diffe...

This study seeks a deeper understanding of the associations between early adolescents’ encounter with sexualizing messages, both through media and peers, and self-sexualization (i.e., performing sexualizing appearance behaviors). To address this aim, this three-wave panel study (N = 971, 49% girls; Mage = 11.14) takes both intra- and interpersonal...

The current cross-sectional study among adolescent boys and girls ( N = 640, M age = 15.47, SD = 1.63) examined whether exposure to popular television programs and Facebook predicts the extent to which adolescents objectify their same-sex friends. Two pathways were tested to explain these relationships. The first included internalization of rewarde...

Although everyday exposure to mainstream media is theorized to be associated with women’s self-objectification, empirical tests of this association have yielded mixed results. There are several possible explanations for these mixed results. For example, it may be that mainstream media relate to women’s broader tendency to self-sexualize rather than...

In het huidige artikel wordt nagegaan hoe objectiveringsliteratuur een verklarend kader biedt voor de invloed van seksualiserende media op de seksualiteitsbeleving van adolescenten. Met name wordt er een structureel raamwerk gepresenteerd waarin de assumpties van de klassieke objectiveringsliteratuur tezamen met de aannames van recentere literatuur...

A number of studies have suggested that social media use may be negatively related to adolescents’ well-being. One explanation for this relation may lie in the internalization of various types of ideals displayed on social media; however, research supporting this reasoning is largely absent. This survey study among 1,983 Austrian, Belgian, Spanish,...

Although media exposure has been related to cognitive preoccupation with appearance, research rarely investigated adolescents’ behavioral self-sexualization. To address this gap, the present study among 12- to 16-year-olds (N = 1527; 50.2% girls) in Austria, Belgium, Spain, and South-Korea (1) investigates whether different types of media use relat...

Prior research has related the use of social networking sites (SNSs) to body image disturbances among adolescents, but studies examining how SNSs affect adolescents' engagement in self-sexualizing behaviors are lacking. The current correlational study among 640 adolescents (Mage = 16.27, SD = 1.60) aimed to take a more nuanced look at the influence...

Prior research has examined the influence of media exposure on adolescents’ sexualized self-concept, but engagement in sexualizing appearance behaviors remains understudied, especially among a younger age group (i.e., early adolescents). This three-wave panel study among 971 nine- to 14-year-olds (Mage = 12.99, SD = 1.03) showed that discussing med...

The purpose of this study was to investigate how total amount of television and magazine exposure and heterosocial involvement (i.e., mixed-sex interactions) relate to the endorsement of dysfunctional appearance beliefs. We anticipated a double dose effect in that exposure to media would be related to more dysfunctional appearance beliefs among tho...

The current cross-sectional study among 444 young Belgian women (Mage = 20.08; SD = 0.91) examined the influence of reality television exposure on tanning behavior, which is known to be a risk factor for the development of skin cancer among young women. In addition, it was explored whether the internalization of sun tan ideals from media content an...

Conclusion: The current study showed that teen media exposure plays a role in young girls' appearance management. The findings point to a need to teach young girls about stereotypical messages in media content directed towards them. Prevention efforts should focus on girls who frequently watch teen media. What is Known: • Sexualizing media message...

The present three-wave panel study (N = 973, X¯age = 11.14) sought to advance the current literature on media internalization in preadolescence by examining triggers and consequences related to preadolescents’ media internalization and use of media for appearance information. We sought to examine whether (a) media internalization and use of media f...

Early adolescents (N = 1,591; Mage = 11.698; SD = 0.892) participated in a two-wave panel study (6-month interval) to examine the longitudinal association between appearance-focused magazine exposure and social appearance anxiety. We revealed that magazine exposure positively correlated with the internalization of appearance ideals and the attribut...

Dysfunctional appearance beliefs have been identified as important risk factors in the development of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors among early adolescents. The current two-wave study among 10–14-year-olds (N = 1,597, Mage = 11.25, SD = 1.05) aimed to delineate factors that contribute to the endorsement of such beliefs. Resul...

Little is known about the effects of playing sexualizing video games on adolescent boys’ and girls’ self-objectified body image. Early and middle adolescents (N = 115; Mage = 12.63, SD = 0.85) participated in a between-subjects experiment testing the effect of playing with a sexualized male or female avatar as compared to a control condition. We re...

A three-wave panel study (2010-2011) was conducted among 515 adolescents in Belgium (Flanders) (mean age = 14.07) to examine the role of perceived male and female peer norms in the reciprocal relationship between music television exposure and sexual behavior. Structural equation models revealed several unexpected findings. First, the previously rep...