Fabio Rosa Angela, Tripodi Rosa
Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
Department of Economics, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
Health Psychol Rep. 2024 Jul 10;12(4):286-294. doi: 10.5114/hpr/189698. eCollection 2024.
Social media platforms have become integral to modern society, facilitating diverse content interactions for individuals. The widespread use of social media has sparked intriguing inquiries into its impact on self-perception and individual well-being. This study investigated the phenomenon of social media appearance preoccupation and its complex relationship with psychosocial factors such as self-esteem, well-being, appearance-related anxiety, depression, and anxiety, considering both the rich-get-richer hypothesis and the poor-get-richer hypothesis.
A sample of 401 Italian participants, aged 18 to 54, completed the demographic questionnaire, the Social Media Appearance Preoccupation Scale (SMAPS), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), the Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWBI), the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Y2 (STAI-Y2).
The results suggest a complex relationship between psychosocial factors and social media appearance preoccupation (SMAP). While higher levels of self-esteem and well-being were associated with lower levels of SMAP, indicating a protective effect against appearance preoccupation on social media, there was a positive correlation between appearance-related anxiety, leisure hours of media use, and SMAP.
These findings underscore the multifaceted nature of SMAP and its associations with various psychosocial factors. Overall, these results provide partial support for the theory of the poor-get-richer hypothesis, suggesting that individuals experiencing heightened levels of appearance-related anxiety may turn to social media as a coping mechanism, potentially exacerbating their psychological distress.
社交媒体平台已成为现代社会不可或缺的一部分，为个人促进了多样化的内容互动。社交媒体的广泛使用引发了对其对自我认知和个人幸福感影响的有趣探究。本研究调查了社交媒体外表关注现象及其与自尊、幸福感、外表相关焦虑、抑郁和焦虑等心理社会因素的复杂关系，同时考虑了富者愈富假说和穷者愈富假说。
401名年龄在18至54岁之间的意大利参与者完成了人口统计问卷、社交媒体外表关注量表（SMAPS）、罗森伯格自尊量表（SES）、心理总体幸福感指数（PGWBI）、贝克抑郁量表第二版（BDI-II）和状态-特质焦虑量表Y2（STAI-Y2）。
结果表明心理社会因素与社交媒体外表关注（SMAP）之间存在复杂关系。虽然较高水平的自尊和幸福感与较低水平的SMAP相关，表明对社交媒体上的外表关注有保护作用，但外表相关焦虑、媒体使用休闲时间与SMAP之间存在正相关。
这些发现强调了SMAP的多面性及其与各种心理社会因素的关联。总体而言，这些结果为穷者愈富假说提供了部分支持，表明经历较高水平外表相关焦虑的个体可能会转向社交媒体作为一种应对机制，这可能会加剧他们的心理困扰。
