TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2023//
TI  - Strong correlations between social appearance anxiety, use of social media, and feelings of loneliness in adolescents and young adults
JO  - International journal of environmental research and public health
A1  - Papapanou, Triada Konstantina
A1  - Darviri, Christina
A1  - Kanaka-Gantenbein, Christina
A1  - Tigani, Xanthi
A1  - Michou, Maria
A1  - Vlachakis, Dimitrios
A1  - Chrousos, George P.
A1  - Bacopoulou, Flora
SP  - e4296
EP  - e4296
VL  - 20
IS  - 5
N2  - Social appearance anxiety is a type of social anxiety that is associated with body image perception and exacerbated by the use of social media, leading to feelings of loneliness. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relations between social appearance anxiety, use of social media, and feelings of loneliness in Greek adolescents and young adults. The sample of the research consisted of 632 participants, 439 women (69.5%) and 193 men (30.5%), aged 18-35 years. The Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS), the Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS), and the UCLA Loneliness Scale were the instruments used. Data collection was performed online, via Google forms. Multiple regression analyses were performed and demonstrated a significant positive correlation between the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale and the UCLA Loneliness Scale scores. The feeling of loneliness was predicted by the social appearance anxiety score (p < 0.0001). On the other hand, there was a significant negative correlation between the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale and the Social Media Disorder Scale scores (p = 0.002), suggesting that social media use may exacerbate appearance anxiety and, hence, loneliness. The findings suggest that there may be a complex, vicious reverberatory cycle between appearance anxiety, use of social media, and feelings of loneliness in some young people.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1661-7827
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054296
ID  - ref1
ER  -