Cross-sectional analysis reveals social media addiction indirectly links to eating disorders via body appreciation in female college students, highlighting gender-specific risks.
Key Points
To investigate whether body appreciation mediates the association between social media addiction and eating disorder symptoms, and to evaluate if gender moderates this indirect pathway.
Cross-sectional survey of 333 college students in Turkiye (mean age = 22.99 years, SD = 2.95).
Administered the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, and Body Appreciation Scale.
Conducted moderated mediation analysis using Hayes's PROCESS Version 4.2 (Model 59).
Social media addiction was indirectly associated with eating disorder symptoms through body appreciation.
Gender moderated the mediation pathway, showing a statistically significant indirect effect in women but not in men.
Excessive social media engagement related to disordered eating behaviors specifically by diminishing positive body image among female participants.