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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1445090
This article is part of the Research Topic Community Series In Mental-Health-Related Stigma and Discrimination: Prevention, Role, and Management Strategies, Volume III View all 4 articles

Eyes on me: How social media use is associated with urban Chinese adolescents' concerns about their physical appearance

Provisionally accepted
Ruining Jin Ruining Jin 1*Tri Le Tri Le 2
  • 1 China University of Political Science and Law, Changping District, China
  • 2 Independent researcher, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Social media usage carries risks of negative impacts on one's perception of physical attractiveness, especially among adolescents who are developing their self-image. This study examines the correlations between social media interaction and concerns about physical appearance among urban Chinese adolescents. We employed Bayesian analysis with Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms on survey data from 11,926 middle school students in China. Our findings indicate that while the amount of daily social media usage does not significantly correlate with appearance concerns, the desire for social media attention through interactions such as liking, commenting, and sharing shows a clear positive association. Female adolescents exhibit a higher degree of concern about their physical appearance compared to males. Additionally, behaviors aimed at improving perceived physical attractiveness, such as exercising and using skin-whitening products, are positively associated with increased appearance concerns. These findings suggest that targeted interventions focusing on attention-seeking behaviors may be effective in addressing appearance-related anxieties among adolescents.

    Keywords: Social Media, adolescents, physical appearance, appearance concern, Chinese society

    Received: 07 Jun 2024; Accepted: 22 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jin and Le. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ruining Jin, China University of Political Science and Law, Changping District, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.