From Self-objectification to Psychological Well-being: A Bibliometric Analysis of Body Image, Eating Behavior, and Quality of Life Research

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21305488

Manpreet Kaur¹ and Akash Kumar² (Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh¹ and University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh²)

Self-objectification, appearance anxiety, and disordered eating are all major and interconnected global health issues with no organized bibliometric investigation on how they share intellectual structure and development. The paper provides a bibliometric review of 2207 Scopus-indexed publications (January 2011 to March 2026) that analyzed the overlap of body image, eating behavior, self-objectification, self-compassion, and psychological well-being. After systematized filtering of an initial record yield of 3,318 records, the final corpus (2207) was processed in Biblioshiny (R-bibliometrix) and VOSviewer, which gave a yearly growth percentage of 21.52% in publications. The analysis of co-citation revealed the existence of four intellectual clusters, such as positive body image measurement and theory, social media and objectification theory, self-compassion frameworks, and methodological infrastructure. Co-occurrence analysis of keywords provided six thematic clusters, self-compassion and mindfulness interventions; body image, social media, and disordered eating; eating disorder pathology and shame-based interventions; positive body image and body appreciation; adolescent body image and self-objectification; and comorbid mental health outcomes including depression and anxiety. A thematic map also further subdivided research, showing that the concept of self-compassion has shifted its status to the niche to a motor position; the quality-of-life outcomes are not yet developed. USA, Australia, and United Kingdom are top in terms of citation impact and India and South Asian countries are underrepresented critically. These results provide a guide to the researchers, clinicians, and policy-makers dealing with the increasing crisis of appearance culture, mental health, and quality of life.