Limitations and future directions
weight gain
One limitation was the likely floor effect we observed regarding young women’s attitudes toward potential pregnancy. Young women from 18 to 30 years-old are less likely to desire or try to become pregnant, regardless of their level of DE, because they are focused on their education, starting their careers, or just waiting until they are older to have children [Another limitation that the study might have had is the images used to depict portrayals of pregnancy. We utilized the same two women for the modified and unmodified social media portrayals of pregnancy. We chose to use the same women for both categories to avoid any confounding factors using several different women. However, the two women that we used for the study were traditionally beautiful, and their unmodified pictures may not exhibit average looking pregnant women. Future research can use pictures of less traditionally attractive women so that there is more of a visual difference between the modified and unmodified pictures. Future research could also use pictures of different women for both categories instead of using the same women for both.Additionally, future research could measure the amount of time young women spend on social media and the duration young women for which they view each picture, especially portrayals of pregnancy. Due to the short amount of time participants were exposed to social media portrayals of pregnancy, there may not have been a strong enough effect to show significant results. Therefore, future research could examine if viewing modified social media portrayals of pregnancy for extended periods of time has a greater impact on young women’s attitudes toward a potential pregnancy and other related factors.Finally, given some of the unexpected findings, a more qualitative approach to this research could be utilized. Specifically, the relationship between possessing higher levels of DE thoughts and more positive attitudes toward gestational weight gain should be examined qualitatively. Using a qualitative analysis would allow women to share their exact feelings rather than relying on multiple choice questions with limited elaboration. A more extensive evaluation of young women’s attitudes toward potential pregnancy and body image can be used to ensure better outcomes for both mother and child [