Members
Nikol Kvardová is a postdoctoral researcher at IRTIS and a lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University. Her primary research focus is on body image in the context of social media use. She is also involved in projects examining the impact of digital media on adolescent well-being, the role of anonymity in digital environments, and the development of body image measurement scales.
AWARDS
- 2020 - Dean's award for excellent M.A. students (Faculty of Social Studies, MU)
- 2025 - Dean's award for excellent Ph.D. students (Faculty of Social Studies, MU)
- 2025 - Masaryk University Vice-Rector's Award for excellent results in the doctoral program
- 2025 - MUNI Scientist Award from Masaryk University for articles published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence and Computers in Human Behavior
Journal articles
2025
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Kvardova, N., Machackova, H., Maes, Ch. & Vandenbosch, L. (2025). Navigating Beauty Standards on Social Media: Impact of Appearance Activity on Adolescents’ Body Dissatisfaction. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-025-02159-y
2024
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Kvardova, N., Maes, C., & Vandenbosch, L. (2024). BoPo online, BoPo offline? Engagement with body positivity posts, positive appearance comments on social media, and adolescents’ appearance-related prosocial tendencies. Computers in Human Behavior, 162, 108471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108471
2023
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Bedrosova, M., Kvardova, N., & Machackova, H. (2023). Bystanders’ Victim Blaming and Minimizing Consequences of Weight-Based Cyberhate Attacks: The Roles of anti-Fat Attitudes, Body-Positive Online Content, and Gender. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(9-10), 6915-6941. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605221140037
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Kvardová, N., Lacko, D. & Machackova, H. (2023). The validity of the Czech version of Body Appreciation Scale-2 for adolescents. Journal of Eating Disordorders, 11(176), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-023-00897-7
https://osf.io/ybkvn/
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Kvardova, N., Macháčková, H., & Güleç, H. (2023). ‘I wish my body looked like theirs!’: How positive appearance comments on social media impact adolescents’ body dissatisfaction. Body Image, 47, 101630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.101630
https://osf.io/upxjn/
https://osf.io/4gjky
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Lokajová, A., Šmahel, D., & Kvardová, N. (2023). Health-related social media use and COVID-19 anxiety in adolescence: health anxiety as covariate and moderator. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1079730
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Svestkova, A., Kvardova, N., & Šmahel, D. (2023). Health anxiety in adolescents: The roles of online health information seeking and parental health anxiety. Journal of Child and Family Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02689-8

2022
- Gulec, H., Kvardova, N., & Smahel, D. (2022). Adolescents' disease- and fitness-related online health information seeking behaviors: The roles of perceived trust in online health information, eHealth literacy, and parental factors. Computers in Human Behavior, 134, 107318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107318
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Kvardova, N., Machackova, H., & Smahel, D. (2022). A moderated mediation model for body-positive online content and body image among adolescents. Body Image, 42, 370-374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.07.002
https://osf.io/pv53r
2021
- Kvardova, N., Smahel, D., Machackova, H., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2021). Who is exposed to harmful online content? The role of risk and protective factors among Czech, Finnish, and Spanish adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50, 2294-2310. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01422-2
2020
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Kvardova, N., Machackova, H., & Smahel, D. (2020). The direct and indirect effects of online social support, neuroticism, and web content internalization on the drive for thinness among women visiting health-oriented websites. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072416
2019
- Kvardová, N., Radimecká, M., Drápalová, M., & Širůček, J. (2019). Reliabilita a konstruktová validita metody Relationship Assessment Scale. TESTFÓRUM, 7(12), 17-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5817/TF2019-12-12123
Book chapters
2025
- Kvardova, N. (2025). Viewing Body Positivity Online Content Scale. In V. R. Winter, T. L. Tylka, & A. M. Landor (Eds.), Handbook of Body Image-Related Measures (pp. 373-375). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009398275
Reports
2025
- Smahel, D., Šaradín Lebedíková, M., Lacko, D., Kvardová, N., Mýlek, V., Tkaczyk, M., Svestkova, A., Gulec, H., Hrdina, M., Machackova, H., & Dedkova, L. (2025). Tech & Teens: Insights from 15 Studies on the Impact of Digital Technology on Well-Being. EU Kids Online.
2023
- Kardefelt Winther, D., Stoilova, M., Büchi, M., Twesigye, R., Smahel, D., Bedrosova, M., Kvardova, N., & Livingstone, S. (2023). Children’s exposure to hate messages and violent images online. UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight.
2019
- Kvardová, N., Valkovičová, N., & Šmahel, D. (2019). Do Mobile Phone Bans Work? Rules and the use of technology in school in relation to adolescents' behavior. Research report from primary and secondary schools. Brno: Masaryk University.
Conferences
2025
- Kuiper, R., Kvardová, N., Palíšek, P., Rónai, L., de Vreugd, L., & Orizzonte, G. (2025). How to Go From Null Hypotheses to Theory-Driven Evidence. Presented at the Annual Meeting of Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science, Budapest, Hungary.
- Kvardova, N., Literova, A., Machackova, H., Juchelkova, M., & Macek, P. (2025, September 11-12). Exploring resilience as a moderator of social media appearance activity and body image concerns in adolescents. Presented at MediaPsych 2025, Duisburg, Germany. Available here.
2024
- Jaron Bedrosova, M., Kvardova, N., Machackova, H., & Matthes, J. (2024). What affects bystanders’ responses towards cyberhate in social media news? An experimental study of hate against plus-size people. Presented at the 28th Workshop on Aggression, Nottingham, United Kingdom. Available here.
- Křížová, N., Kvardová, N., & Macháčková, H. (2024, June 11-13). Empowerment or Pressure? Exploring the Impact of Female Body Depictions in Body Positivity InstagramPosts on Self-Objectification [Poster presentation] Presented at Appearance Matters Conference 10, Bristol, United Kingdom. Available here.
- Kvardová, N. (2024, July 16-19). Addressing theory crisis in (media) psychology with informative hypotheses. In R. M. Kuiper (chair), *Recent Advances in (non-)Bayesian informative hypothesis evaluation*. [Symposium]. The 89th Annual Meeting of the Psychometric Society, Prague, Czech Republic.
- Kvardová, N., Machackova, H., Maes, C., & Vadenbosch, L. (2024, September 25-28). Navigating Beauty Standards on Social Media: Impact of Appearance-Focused Activity on Adolescent Body Dissatisfaction. Presented at the 19th Conference of the European Association for Research on Adolescence 2024, Limassol, Cyprus. Available here.
2023
- Kvardová, N. (2023, June 22-24). #BodyPositivity or #BodyNeutrality on social media: Which one is more beneficial for body image? [Poster presentation] Presented at SIPS 2023, Padova, Italy. Available here.
- Svestkova, A., Kvardova, N., & Smahel, D. (2023, September 4-8). Health anxiety in adolescents: the roles of online health information seeking and parental health anxiety. [Poster presentation]. Presented at the 37th Annual Conference of European Health Psychology Society (EHPS), Bremen, Germany. Available here.
2022
- Bedrošová, M., Kvardová, N., & Macháčková, H. (2022). Bystanders’ victim blaming and minimizing consequences of weight-based cyberhate attacks: The roles of anti-fat attitudes, body-positive online content, and gender. Presented at 26th Workshop on Aggression, Jena, Germany.
- Kvardová, N., Macháčková, H., & Güleç, H. (2022, October 19-22). "I wish I'd have a body like that!": The effect of social media comments endorsing appearance ideals on body dissatisfaction of adolescents. Presented at the 9th European Communication Conference (ECREA), Aarhus, Denmark. Available here.
2021
- Gulec, H., Kvardová, N., & Šmahel, D. (2021, November). The Roles of Trust, E-health Literacy and Parental Influence in Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors of Adolescents. Presented at Cyberspace conference, Brno, Czech Republic.
- Kvardova, N., Smahel, D., Machackova, H., Garmendia, M., Kotilainen, S., & Okkonen, J. (2021, September). Who is exposed to harmful online content? The role of risk and protective factors among Czech, Finnish, and Spanish adolescents. Presented at the 8th European Communication Conference (ECREA), online.
2019
- Kvardová, N., Macháčková, H., & Šmahel, D. (2019, October). The direct and indirect effects of online social support, neuroticism, and web content internalization on drive for thinness among visitors of health-oriented websites. Presented at the conference (Re-)Connecting Perspectives on Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction (ICSI 2019), Tilburg, Netherlands.
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Valkovicova, N., Kvardova, N., Smahel, D., & Machackova, H. (2019, November). Do Mobile Phone Bans Work? An Analysis of Phone-use Rules in Czech Schools. Presented at Cyberspace conference, Brno, Czech Republic.
Popularizations
2023
- Kvardová, N. in magazine article. (2023, December 1). Hendy, E. When Compliments Just Make You Feel… Worse. Vice. Available here.
Nikol Kvardová, Ph.D.
E-mail: nikol.kvardova@fss.muni.cz
ResearchGate: Nikol Kvardová
ORCID: 0000-0002-6929-0152
LinkedIn: Nikol Kvardová
Research interests
- Social media and body image
- Body positivity
- Development of measuring scales
- Digital media and well-being