References to Positive and Negative Self-Esteem on the Comments of Beauty YouTube Videos: Content Analysis (Preprint)
BACKGROUND Among adolescents, low self-esteem is associated with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Self-esteem during adolescence is vulnerable and may be influenced by beauty- related YouTube videos, which have become increasingly common in recent years. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to understand how viewers respond to beauty videos on YouTube by evaluating the prevalence of positive and negative self-esteem expressed in the comment section. METHODS In this content analysis study, popular beauty YouTube content creators were identified and their two most recent videos with the term “makeup” or “palette” in the title were selected. For each content creator, two videos were selected, and the most recent 20 comments were evaluated for their referenced to positive and negative self-esteem and tone. RESULTS A total of 240 total comments were analyzed from 12 beauty related YouTube videos. Among the comments evaluated, 5.4% (n=13) referenced positive self-esteem and 6.2% (n=15) referenced negative self-esteem. Of the comments evaluated, 65.4% (n=157) of comments indicated positive tone and 17.5% (n=42) referenced negative tone. Of the positive toned comments, 2.9% (n=7) referenced negative self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS Most comments referenced positive tone; however, commenters sometimes reported negative effects on their self-esteem. Similar amounts of positive and negative self-esteem references suggest that beauty related YouTube videos can both positively and negatively affect self-esteem. However, our findings are unable to predict in which way self-esteem may be affected. Future studies should further investigate the self-esteem effects on viewers from beauty related videos. CLINICALTRIAL NA