Members
Nikol Kvardová, M.A. is a Ph.D. student of psychology at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University. She is interested in how the exposure to appearance-focused content on social media affects youth’s body image and eating behaviors. Her research interests also include studying exposure to harmful content on the internet, including eating disorders-oriented websites.
AWARDS
- 2020 - Dean's award for excellent M.A. students (Faculty of Social Studies, MU)
Journal articles
2023
- 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
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
- Bedrosova, M., Kvardova, N., & Machackova, 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. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605221140037
- 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
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
Reports
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
2023
- Kvardová, N. (2023, June 22-24). #BodyPositivity or #BodyNeutrality on social media: Which one is more beneficial for body image? 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.

Nikol Kvardová, M.A.
E-mail: nikol.kvardova@fss.muni.cz
ResearchGate: Nikol Kvardová
ORCID: 0000-0002-6929-0152
ResearchGate: AAM-5401-2021
Research interests
- ICTs and well-being
- social media and body image
- eating disorders
- youth's exposure to online harmful content