Social media pressure and the body dysmorphic disorder tendency in women: The mediating role of perfectionism

Abstract

The ideal body image displayed in social media often makes women vulnerable to body image issues, one of which is body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). This study aims to examine the role of social media pressure in predicting the tendency towards such a disorder in emerging adult women, with each of the three dimensions of perfectionism as a mediator. The participants were 385 women aged 18-25 years who used social media and were selected using the convenience sampling technique. Data were collected using the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Screening Scale, Social Media Pressure Scale, Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R), and some open-ended questions distributed online through various social media. The BDD tendency model tested using structural equation modeling has a good fit with the data (χ2/df = .019, RMSEA = .001, CFI = 1.00) and shows that the role of social media pressure in women's BDD tendency was fully mediated through the discrepancy dimension of perfectionism. The findings indicate that a program is needed to develop media literacy and promote positive body images for women who use social media to prevent body image issues.

The association between social media use and body dysmorphic symptoms in young people

“…This finding is consistent with previous research showing that that self-oriented, but not socially-prescribed, perfectionism is a risk factor for body dysmorphic symptoms ( Krebs et al, 2019 ). Furthermore, discrepancy perfectionism, occurring when there is excessive focus on the discrepancy between one’s standards for oneself and one’s actual performance ( Slaney et al, 2001 ), has been found to mediate the path between social media pressure and body dysmorphic symptoms ( Sulistyo et al, 2022 ). Taken together, the findings of these studies raise the possibility that individuals with higher levels of self-oriented perfectionism are more likely to compare themselves with idealised images of beauty and to become self-critical if they perceive their own appearance as falling short of these standards, which in turns fuels body dysmorphic symptoms.…”

“…In support of this, existing research has shown that socially-prescribed perfectionism is associated with body dysmorphic symptoms amongst university students ( Hanstock and O'Mahony, 2002 ; Bartsch, 2007 ) and that self-oriented perfectionism predicts body dysmorphic symptoms over time ( Krebs et al, 2019 ). Additionally, newer findings indicate that perfectionism mediates the association between social media pressure felt by young adult women and body dysmorphic symptoms ( Sulistyo et al, 2022 ). It is therefore possible that perfectionism also plays a moderating role in the association between SMU and body dysmorphic symptoms, particularly when exposed to image-based content.…”