Date of Project

5-1-2023

Document Type

Honors Thesis

School Name

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Major Advisor

Dr. Jean Lamont

Abstract

Instagram promotes poor body image, which can ultimately decrease academic performance. Attending a same-sex high school, versus a co-ed high school, may buffer women against this since they are not affected by the male gaze and other distractors that comes with having the opposite gender in a work environment. This study will use a 10-15 minute anonymous online survey to examine college women’s Instagram usage, body image, and academic performance, focusing on whether or not their high school environment shapes who they are today. I expect that women who attended a single-sex high school will have better body image and better grades in college, as they will have a stronger academic foundation going into college. Mixed results were received, accepting some of the hypotheses while rejecting others, but it was found that attending a single sex high school was associated with having a lower surveillance and a higher GPA, as originally expected. However, none of the results were statistically significant. This could be due to the low number of participants surveyed, specifically the low number of participants surveyed who attended a single sex high school, variables unaccounted for in the data set, and self-reported measures. Further limitations and future directions will be discussed.

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS