THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND IDENTITY ON BODY IMAGE DISTURBANCE

Abstract

Background: Appearance concerns are pervasive in the age of social media (SM). Many are anxious about their body image (BI) and the way they are presented and perceived on SM. The development of body image disturbance (BID) has been linked to media, but it is not clear if SM shares the same mechanism of influences toward BID. BI has been found to vary across the human lifespan, yet most studies conducted have been in the adolescent population. It is the aim of this study to fill the gaps in the literature by studying the role identity plays in the association between SM and BI among the adult population. Objectives: To (1) investigate the association between frequency usage of SM and report of BID; (2) to examine the mediating relationship of identity orientation between SM and development of BID; and (3) to explore the moderating effects in individuals who place strong emphasis of the social aspect of identity, in understanding the association between relational aspects of identity and reports of BID. Results: The study has a cross-sectional design and explored hypotheses in a population of 233 Asian adult participants through web-based self-report measures. The study found direct positive association between SM usage and BID after controlling for demographic factors and depressive symptoms. However, social and relational aspects of identity did not mediate this relationship. Further moderation analysis revealed a significant moderation effect between social and relational aspects of identity, such that those who rated high on relational aspect of identity is associated with higher BID when they also rated high on social aspect of identity. The effect is not present for individuals who rated low on social aspect of identity. Clinical implications: The results support for early screening of identity orientation, to accurately design preventative educational interventions targeted at addressing emerging/subclinical BID symptoms in the general population.