Assessing the relationship between social media addiction, appearance anxiety and body esteem in young adults

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to assess the relationship between levels of social media addiction and body image anxiety and body esteem among young adults aged 19-25 who use social media.
METHODS: In this descriptive study, young adults were administered a questionnaire including sociodemographic information, eating disorder risk questions, Social Media Addiction Scale (SMA), Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS), and Body Esteem Scale (BES).
RESULTS: The mean daily time spent on social media by 385 young adults participating in the study was found to be 3.29±1.75 hours. The study revealed that 47.5% (n=183) of the participants only followed content, while 52.4% (n=202) shared images. It was found that 9.9% (n=38) of the young adults frequently shared selfies. Women had higher SAAS scores (40.27±15.91) compared to men (33.09±14.47) (p<0.001). A moderate positive significant correlation was found between daily social media usage time and SMAS (r=0.422, p<0.001) and between SAAS and SMAS (r=0.427, p<0.001).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The study revealed that gender differences did not affect social media addiction, but that social media addiction increased as daily social media use increased. Appearance anxiety increased as social media addiction scores rose, and women experienced higher appearance anxiety than men.