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Social media exposure and appearance anxiety: A chain mediation model moderated by physical activity
Weili Ren1, Yuge Tian1, Deyan Liu1
1School of Physical Education, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China.
Abstract:
Appearance anxiety is increasingly prevalent among young people in the context of social media use, but the sequential psychological processes involved and the role of physical activity intensity remain unclear. A cross-sectional survey of young social media users (N = 593) examined a moderated serial mediation model using Hayes' PROCESS (v3.5.3) Model 92 with 5000 bootstrap resamples and 95% confidence intervals, with effects probed at the mean and ± 1 standard deviation of physical activity intensity. Social media exposure was positively correlated with appearance anxiety, ideal beauty, and self-objectification. The indirect association via ideal beauty was statistically reliable at low, moderate, and high physical activity intensity and was larger at higher intensity. In contrast, the indirect association via self-objectification and the serial indirect association were observed at moderate and high intensity but not at low intensity. Physical activity intensity was associated with a weaker direct social media exposure-appearance anxiety link but a stronger self-objectification-appearance anxiety link, and moderation of the ideal beauty-appearance anxiety path was not supported. These findings indicate pathway-specific moderation and may help inform interventions that integrate media literacy with appropriately designed physical activity while considering exercise contexts that heighten appearance salience.
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