Does imitating the "hand-gesture dance" on social media reduce anxiety? A two-wave cross-lagged panel analysis on digital embodied practices

This study examines the longitudinal associations among hand-gesture dance participation (HGDP), self-surveillance (SS), interpersonal sensitivity (IS), and anxiety (ANX) among Chinese adults.

Using a two-wave longitudinal survey with a 1-month interval, data were collected from a Chinese sample at Time 1 (n = 1,500) and Time 2 (n = 1,003). Six competing two-wave traditional cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) were tested in Mplus 8.3 to examine temporal associations among the four constructs.

The fully crossed model (M6) showed the best fit among the alternative models based on the overall pattern of fit indices and information criteria, with acceptable absolute fit. Results showed that HGDP at T1 was negatively associated with anxiety at T2 (β = -0.128, p < 0.001) and interpersonal sensitivity at T2 (β = -0.158, p < 0.001), and showed a marginally significant negative association with self-surveillance at T2 (β = -0.051, p = 0.050). The variables also exhibited multidirectional cross-lagged associations rather than a single unidirectional pathway, with self-surveillance, interpersonal sensitivity, and anxiety at T1 each predicting one or more subsequent constructs at T2.

These findings indicate that greater hand-gesture dance participation was temporally associated with lower subsequent anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity and, more tentatively, with lower self-surveillance. Because the HGDP index encompasses different modes of engagement, including viewing, private imitation, and recording/posting, these associations should be interpreted as associations with participation intensity rather than as evidence of a specific causal effect of embodied movement. The study highlights the importance of distinguishing heterogeneous forms of social media participation when examining their psychological correlates over time.