The Impact Of Body Image Comparison In Social Networks On Appearance Anxiety Among Female College Student

In recent years,with the continuous update and improvement of social media platforms,more and more people begin to indulge in Posting their latest photos and updates on the platform,as well as liking and commenting on others,which brings with it new definitions of "beauty",such as "thin for beauty","slap face" and so on.The group of female college students is in the stage of physical and psychological maturity,easy to be affected by external standards,and then constantly pay attention to whether their appearance is in line with social media aesthetic standards and public expectations.Therefore,body image comparison has become a common phenomenon,and excessive body image comparison is bound to cause negative emotions,such as appearance anxiety.Studies have shown that body image comparison on social networks can cause a series of physical and psychological problems.In addition,other studies have found that expressing self-compassion and self-comfort to ourselves can help us better understand our feelings and needs,thus coping better with frustration and stress,improving our emotional stability and self-esteem,and making us more confident about our physical appearance.This is despite the fact that no studies have looked specifically at the relationship between self-compassion and appearance anxiety.But self-compassion,in which people are more forgiving and caring of themselves,can foster positive attitudes and self-confidence in individuals,a trait that is the opposite of the self-denial characteristic of appearance anxiety.Based on this,this paper explores the influence of social network body image comparison on female college students’ appearance anxiety through two studies,and also investigates the role of self-compassion in the relationship between them.In the first study,the differences of social network body image comparison,appearance anxiety and self-compassion among female college students in different grades and majors were explored by questionnaire survey.And the relationship among social network body image comparison,self-compassion and appearance anxiety.In the second study,through an experimental method,images were used to initiate upward and downward body image comparison,to induce and control self-compassion state,measure the appearance anxiety level of the subjects,and further explore the relationship between the three.The results show that:(1)The level of appearance anxiety of female college students differs significantly in major,the level of appearance anxiety of female college students in liberal arts is significantly higher than that of female college students in science;The two sub-dimensions of self-compassion(overindulgence and mindfulness)had significant differences in majors and grades,and the scores of overindulgence in liberal arts were higher than those in science;The level of mindfulness in freshmen was lower than that in other grades and the level of isolation was higher than that in seniors.(2)There was a significant positive correlation between social network body image comparison and appearance anxiety,while there was a significant negative correlation between self-compassion and appearance anxiety.(3)Self-compassion plays a moderating role in the relationship between social network body image comparison and appearance anxiety.When the level of self-compassion is low,the body image of social network can negatively predict the level of appearance anxiety,while when the level of self-compassion is high,the body image of social network can negatively predict the level of appearance anxiety.(4)The main effect of appearance anxiety was not significant in different comparison directions and different self-compassion states.(5)In the downward comparison,the level of appearance anxiety in the self-compassion induced group was significantly lower than that in the self-compassion control group.In conclusion,social network body image comparison has a negative effect on the level of female college students’ appearance anxiety,and self-compassion plays a moderating role between them.This conclusion enriched the current research on the relationship between social network body image comparison and appearance anxiety,and also provided a new perspective for the prevention and intervention of appearance anxiety in the future.