Dental self-confidence in digital health marketing systems: Adolescent well-being and social media use
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Health marketing research has paid limited attention to how everyday digital platforms function as informal health marketing systems that shape adolescents' perceptions of appearance, self-worth, and treatment value. Positioning social media platforms as marketplace-mediated environments that produce health-related norms and consumer vulnerability, this study examines dental self-confidence (DSC) as a form of health-related market value among adolescents. Using data from 502 parent-child dyads in New Zealand and applying multivariate analysis and PLS-SEM, the findings show that lower dental self-confidence is associated with greater social and psychological impact (PI), with social impact operating as a key pathway. Active social media use was associated with a weaker protective DSC-PI association. This study extends health marketing theory by (a) conceptualizing dental appearance as a form of health-related market value, (b) positioning everyday digital platforms as informal health marketing systems, and (c) extending consumer vulnerability frameworks to adolescent health consumers navigating marketing-mediated appearance norms.
Source: Health Marketing Quarterly
Authors: Khaled Ibrahim, Lisa S. McNeill, Li Mei
Institutions: Auckland University of Technology, University of Otago
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: University of Otago
OpenAlex ID: W7165944368