From clout to compulsion: body dissatisfaction as a mediator between social media self presentation and exercise addiction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55040/xf4emr32Keywords:
social media, body dissatisfaction, exercise addiction, self-presentation, digitalAbstract
Social media self-presentation and upward social comparison may be associated with body dissatisfaction and risky exercise patterns, but evidence among Filipino university students remains limited. This cross-sectional study examined whether body dissatisfaction statistically accounted for part of the association between social media self-presentation and upward social comparison (SPAUSC) and exercise addiction, with exploratory sex-stratified analyses. Participants were 168 undergraduates (98 females, 70 males) from a Philippine public university who completed the Self-Presentation and Upward Social Comparison Inclination Scale, Body Shape Questionnaire-16B, and Exercise Addiction Inventory. Sex differences were tested using Mann-Whitney U tests, and indirect associations were estimated with PROCESS Model 4 using 5,000 bootstrap samples. Females reported higher upward social comparison (p = .012, r = .19) and exercise addiction (p = .001, r = .26), whereas self-presentation and body dissatisfaction did not differ significantly. In the full sample, SPAUSC was associated with body dissatisfaction (B = 0.3041, p = .005) and exercise addiction after adjustment for body dissatisfaction (B = 0.5365, p < .001). The indirect association was significant (B = 0.1863, 95% CI [0.0440, 0.3310]; completely standardized indirect association = .101). It was also significant among females but not males; however, the subgroup difference was not formally tested. The findings indicate a small statistical indirect association, not a causal mechanism. Cross-sectional measurement, convenience sampling, and sample-specific instrument refitting limit temporal, causal, and generalizable conclusions.
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