The Associations Between Instagram Use, Selfie Activities, Appearance Comparison, and Body Dissatisfaction in Adult Men

This study investigated whether appearance comparison on Instagram mediated the association between Instagram use and body dissatisfaction among adult men. In addition, this study investigated whether selfie manipulation mediated the associations between (a) selfie posting and body dissatisfaction and (b) selfie investment and body dissatisfaction. The final sample of men (n = 348) between the ages of 18 and 50 (M = 31.04; standard deviation = 6.38) completed several self-report measures online, after being recruited through Mechanical Turk. A linear regression with mediation utilizing bootstrapping was employed to explore hypotheses. Results indicated that appearance comparison on Instagram mediated the association between Instagram use and body dissatisfaction such that Instagram use was positively associated with appearance comparison, which was in turn positively associated with body dissatisfaction. Also, results evidenced that selfie manipulation mediated the associations between (a) selfie posting and body dissatisfaction and (b) selfie investment and body dissatisfaction. Selfie posting and selfie investment were both positively associated with selfie manipulation, which was positively associated with body dissatisfaction. A unique suppression effect emerged such that, contrary to previous research, selfie posting was positively associated with body dissatisfaction when selfie manipulation was not included in the model. However, when selfie manipulation was included in the model, the association between selfie posting and body dissatisfaction was negative. Results are discussed in terms of the potential importance of selfie manipulation in the association between selfie posting and body dissatisfaction in men. Results are also discussed by highlighting the rates of Instagram use in men, the concerning paucity of research on men within this domain, and highlighting similarities with past research in women.