Unique associations of social media use and online appearance preoccupation with depression, anxiety, and appearance rejection sensitivity

Through the Looking Glass of Social Media. Focus on Self-Presentation and Association with Mental Health and Quality of Life. A Cross-Sectional Survey-Based Study.

“…In our sample, a relatively large proportion reported at least some focus on self-presentation on social media, but for four out ve indicators (except "retouching"), the girls reported more focus on these aspects compared to boys. This is in line with other ndings, where adolescent and young adult women report higher preoccupation with self-presentation on social media compared to boys [40], but are somewhat at odds with ndings from younger age groups, where boys and girls displayed similar levels of self-oriented social media activity [20]. A study investigating sel e-taking and posting patterns found, however, consistent gender differences across broad age groups (aged 12 to 50 years).…”

“…In sum, our ndings are preliminary evidence of a medium strong relationship between focus on self-presentation on social media and symptoms of anxiety and depression for both genders, albeit with potential important gender differences. This is in accord with recently reported associations between types of social media use and mental health indicators among adolescents and young adults [20,40]. Although we report an association between focus on self-presentation on social media and poor mental health and lower quality of life, we cannot assert the direction of the association.…”

“…One underlying mechanism for the negative association between self-presentation and mental health found in this study may be related to appearance-related self-presentation. In line with this, a recent study found that social media engagement and behaviors involving appearance comparisons and judgements thereof is of particular importance for symptoms of depression and anxiety among adolescents and young adults [40]. This may be due to the immediacy of comparison facilitated by pictures as compared to other media [42], as well as the importance put on -females' in particular -appearance and attractiveness emphasized in most cultures [43].…”

Exploring the Role of Social Media Use Motives, Psychological Well-Being, Self-Esteem, and Affect in Problematic Social Media Use

“…Despite not being an officially recognized mental health disorder, previous research has demonstrated that PSMU can longitudinally influence a wide range of psychiatric outcomes and behaviors, including, but not limited to, increased severity of insomnia, stress, depression, and anxiety (Brailovskaia and Margraf, 2017;Brailovskaia et al, 2019a), in addition to suicide-related outcomes (Brailovskaia et al, 2020). At the cross-sectional level, PSMU has been linked to decreased sleep quality and life satisfaction (Sha et al, 2019;Buda et al, 2020;Duradoni et al, 2020), emotional maladjustment (Hawes et al, 2020), lower productivity (Rozgonjuk et al, 2020d), narcissistic traits (Brailovskaia et al, 2020), poorer psychological functioning (Sampasa-Kanyinga and Lewis, 2015), phubbing (Karadag et al, 2015), binge drinking (Spilkov et al, 2017), and addictive usage (Andreassen and Pallesen, 2014;Ryan et al, 2014;Andreassen, 2015;Pontes et al, 2018).…”

How do Norwegian Adolescents Experience The Role of Social Media in Relation to Mental Health and Well-Being: A Qualitative Study

“…During the last decade, increases in mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, and threats to mental health such as loneliness, have been reported among adolescents (Bakken, 2018 Asgeirsdottir, Sigurvinsdottir, Allegrante, & Sigfusdottir, 2017). The widespread use of social media has been pointed to as a potential contributing cause (Webster, Dunne, & Hunter, 2020), for example due to reduced face-to-face interactions (Uhls et al, 2014), cyberbullying (Fahy et al, 2016), and increased appearance-related social comparison (Hawes, Zimmer-Gembeck, & Campbell, 2020).…”