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Description

Over time, Black beauty standards have been ignored by mainstream culture. Movements within the Black community have highlighted these ideals, continuing online as Black Generation Z (Gen Z)women use social media to celebrate their appearances. Current research explores how socialmedia impacts health-related behaviors but does not fully study the unique experiences of young Black women. The overall study aimed to understand how social media influences and contributes to health behaviors of Black Gen Z women. This specific presentation prioritizes both beauty and health behaviors impacted by social media. The sample included 35 Black women aged 18 to 25 years old from a large-scale Historically Black University. During interviews, participants were questioned on their social media consumption and how it impacts appearance and health conversations. While the broader study focused on health, the results illustrated Black Gen Z women seek more beauty-based content than health-based content on social media which highlights desired body types, clothing, make-up, hair, and nail styles. However, the participants still view nutrition and fitness content on social media platforms. The findings suggest that participants engaged in more appearance-based behaviors rather than health-based behaviors after viewing social media content. When participating in health behaviors, participants focused on actions that enhance or maintain their appearance. In future research, beauty messaging likely can be a powerful tool to disseminate health information which can subsequently decrease the rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease observed within Black women.

Publication Date

4-1-2025

Keywords

Black Gen Z women, social media influence, beauty standards, health behaviors, body image, appearance-based behaviors, nutrition, fitness, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), qualitative research, cultural identity, self-perception, digital media, wellness, obesity prevention, diabetes awareness, cardiovascular health, online beauty content, health communication, representation in media

Beauty versus Health: African American Generation Z Women Social Media Habits

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