The Relationships Between Internet Addiction, Social Appearance Anxiety and Coping with Stress

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine internet addiction in terms of social appearance anxiety and strategies for coping with stress. The dependent variable of the research is internet addiction, and its independent variables are social appearance anxiety and strategies for coping with stress. The study group of the research consists of 481 undergraduate and postgraduate students as 318 women (66.1%) and 163 men (33.9%). In order to collect data in the study, Short Version of Young’s Internet Addiction Test, The Social Appearance Anxiety Scale, The Stress Coping Strategy Scale, and Personal Information Form were used. Descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. A positive relationship was found between internet addiction and social appearance anxiety of university students. While there is a positive relationship between submissive approach and helpless approach, which are the subscale of coping strategies, and internet addiction of university students, there is a negative relationship between self-confident approach and optimistic approach. The results of the research revealed that the submissive approach and self-confident approach, which are the subscale in for coping with stress, social appearance anxiety are predictive of internet addiction.

Smartphone Addiction and Social Appearance Anxiety as Predictors of Junior High Students’ Need to Make a Good Impression

“…In parallel with this finding, several studies showed that there was a strong positive relationship between self-presentation or body image control and frequency of social media use (Boursier & Manna, 2019;Gioia et al, 2020). Doğan and Çolak (2016) draw attention to the fact that adolescents with high social appearance anxiety can express themselves more easily by choosing social media rather than physical-social environments (also see Ayar et al, 2018;Baltacı et al, 2021;Brown & Tiggemann, 2016;Holland & Tiggemann, 2016).…”

Strong Correlations between Social Appearance Anxiety, Use of Social Media, and Feelings of Loneliness in Adolescents and Young Adults

“…Social appearance anxiety, on the other hand, is a type of anxiety defined as the fear of being negatively evaluated or rejected by others because of one's physical appearance [3][4][5][6][7]. People who experience social appearance anxiety usually hold a negative perception of their body and appearance [8][9][10][11], and they frequently try to camouflage the features or the body parts they dislike [8]. In addition, they prefer minimum physical contact and instead use internet communication, which involves less risk of exposure, as well as offering an easier way to manipulate their image and overall appearance [2].…”

“…The internet and social media contribute to many types of social comparison, creating an ideal body image. On the internet, people are exposed to a multitude of images that may be considered the most suitable as a benchmark for social appearance [8]. Many of them are idealized and associated with negative feelings about the body and the person's desire to change their weight and body shape [16].…”

“…Through platforms such as Facebook, people expose themselves and their lives to others, who in turn respond with a negative or positive evaluation. On social media platforms, people are exposed to images of others and social comparison often occurs, which can easily exacerbate concerns about appearance [8,19]. These concerns are minimized when there is positive feedback and increased in the case of negative comments [19].…”

Validation of the Greek Version of Social Appearance Anxiety Scale in Adolescents and Young Adults

“…They also try to hide their body or parts of their body that they do not like. The social, academic and professional sectors can be negatively affected by social appearance anxiety ( Baltaci et al ., 2021 ). Social appearance anxiety includes a more complete concept of physical appearance, extending from the general physical characteristics associated with physiques such as height, weight and muscle structure to more personal characteristics such as skin, hair, face shape and size of features ( Argon, 2014 ), therefore, the term broader as it includes both general appearance problems and physique concerns.…”