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Updated: May 5, 2026

Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
A developmental perspective on appearance-related social media use, body dissatisfaction, and competitive anxiety
Weimin Zhang1, Rongxuan Duan1, Haolan Li2
1College of Education, Nanchang Vocational University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
Introduction:
Digital media engagement centered on appearance has become ubiquitous among adolescents, yet its developmental trajectory and age-specific psychological impacts on young athletes remain poorly understood. This study investigates age-related differences in the longitudinal relationships between appearance-related social media use (ARSME), body dissatisfaction (BD), and competitive anxiety (CA) among Chinese adolescent athletes (aged 14-18) across aesthetic/weight-class and non-leanness sports. The developmental psychopathology framework was adopted because adolescence encompasses distinct developmental phases characterized by differential sensitivity to social-evaluative environmental influences, making a developmental lens essential for understanding age-specific vulnerability to appearance-focused digital content.
Methods:
A 12-month, three-wave longitudinal study was conducted with 356 Chinese adolescent athletes (184 males, 172 females; 14-18 years). Participants were categorized into younger (14-16 years, n = 200) and older (17-18 years, n = 156) groups. Cross-lagged panel modeling (CLPM), random intercept CLPM (RI-CLPM), and multi-group analyses were employed, controlling for sport type (aesthetic/weight-class vs. other sports).
Results:
Younger adolescents exhibited significantly higher levels of ARSME (d = 0.26-0.37), body dissatisfaction (d = 0.29-0.45), and competitive anxiety (d = 0.24-0.30). Age moderated the ARSME → body dissatisfaction pathway (Δχ2 = 5.28, p = 0.022), with stronger effects in younger (β = 0.22) than older (β = 0.13) athletes. Body dissatisfaction mediated 61% of the ARSME-competitive anxiety relationship in younger versus 30% in older adolescents. A supplementary sensitivity analysis decomposing ARSME into behavioral engagement and psychological investment components revealed that psychological investment showed a marginally significant prospective effect on body dissatisfaction (β = 0.08, p = 0.066), while behavioral screen time did not, providing preliminary support for cognitive-processing-focused interventions. Effects remained significant after controlling for sport type.
Conclusion:
Younger adolescent athletes (14-16 years) represent a critical period of heightened vulnerability. Prevention-focused interventions for younger adolescents should prioritize cognitive reappraisal training, metacognitive awareness skills, and functionality-focused body appreciation rather than mere screen time reduction. For older adolescents (17-18 years), interventions targeting performance-based social comparison and authentic self-presentation are additionally warranted.
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