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Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness Scale (ASMC)

The Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness Scale (ASMC) is a 13- item measure of the extent to which individuals’ thoughts and behaviors reflect ongoing awareness of whether they might look attractive to a social media audience. In addition to original validation among an adolescent population, later research shows that the same instrument is also valid for use among young adults.

Categories

Geographies Tested: United States of America

Populations Included: Female, Male

Age Range: Adolescents

Items:

The next questions ask about your experience with social media. When we say ‘social media,’ for this scale, we are referring to photo-based social media sites and apps like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. We are NOT talking about dating websites or apps such as Tinder. Please read each statement and decide how frequently this happens for you

1. When people take pictures of me, I think about how I will look if the pictures are posted on social media.
2. I think about how specific parts of my body will look when people see my pictures on social media.
3. Even when I’m alone, I imagine how my body would look in a social media picture.
4. During the day, I spend time thinking about how attractive I might look when people see pictures of me on social media.
5. I try to guess how people on social media will react to my physical appearance in my pictures.
6. My attractiveness in pictures is more important than anything else I do on social media.
7. When I go to social events, I care more about looking attractive in pictures people might post on social media than I care about having a fun time.
8. If an unattractive picture of me is posted on social media, I feel bad about myself.
9. I look at pictures of myself on social media again and again.
10. I zoom into social media pictures to see what specific parts of my body look like.
11. If someone takes a picture of me that might be posted on social media, I ask to look at it first to make sure I look good.
12. Before I post pictures on social media, I crop them or apply filters to make myself look better.
13. If someone takes a picture of me that might be posted on social media, I pose in a particular way so that I’ll look as attractive as possible.

Response Options:
Never - 1
Almost Never - 2
Rarely - 3
Sometimes - 4
Often - 5
Almost Always - 6
Always - 7

Scoring Procedures

The mean of all items is calculated for the total scale score. Higher scores indicate higher levels of appearance-related social media consciousness. Further scoring guidance can be found here.

Original Citation

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, 164-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.017


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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