THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BODY IMAGE DISTURBANCE INDUCED BY APPEARANCE ANXIETY IN FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENTS

Background: Currently, appearance anxiety has become a hot issue on the Internet. In reality, the interpretation and presentation of beauty standards for women's bodies, such as "palm-sized face", "chopstick legs", and "effective makeup and ineffective makeup" have become a topical phenomenon on social media platforms. Xiaohongshu is a popular UGC social media platform with nearly 400 million users, many young women will look for related topics of their preferences on the platform and are more easily influenced by these aesthetic concepts. Under the social media environment that emphasizes the role of appearance, many young women feel less confident about their appearance, and often feel anxious, troubled, and nervous. These are psychologically interpreted as body image disturbance. Subjects and methods: In this paper, based on the social comparison theory, the effects of the degree of internalization of "ideal beauty" and the degree of social comparison of "ideal beauty" on women's body image were discussed respectively. Based on the revision of the classical scale, a questionnaire survey was used to measure the young women's exposure to Xiaohongshu, the internalization of "ideal beauty", appearance comparison and body image. Results: The results show that: 1. The degree of use of Xiaohongshu will affect the appearance anxiety of female college students; 2. The internalization of "ideal beauty" will create body image disturbance; 3. Social comparison tendency will affect the degree to which female college students compare their "ideal beauty" with Xiaohongshu. Conclusions: Combined with sociocultural theory, the following research conclusions are drawn: social media such as Xiaohongshu are shaping social aesthetic concepts and the concept of "ideal beauty" promoted by Xiaohongshu internet celebrity is influencing young women's cognition and feelings about appearance.