Survey of 781 college students reveals social media use increases appearance anxiety, suggesting mediation by psychological flexibility and rumination.
Abstract Objective: This study explored the psychological pathways of social media use affecting college students' appearance anxiety, focusing on the sequential mediating pathways between psychological flexibility and ruminant thinking. Method: Using the convenience sampling method, 781 college students were surveyed by digital stress scale, multidimensional psychological flexibility questionnaire, college students' appearance rumination scale and appearance anxiety scale. Result: Social media use, psychological flexibility, rumination and college students' appearance anxiety are significantly correlated; Social media use had a predictive effect on college students' appearance anxiety, with the chain mediating indirect effect by psychological flexibility and rumination. Conclusion: The empirical results show that psychological flexibility and rumination play a sequential mediating role in the effect of social media use on appearance anxiety among college students.
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Zhang et al. (2025) studied this question.
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