Predicting the use of visually oriented social media: The role of psychological well-being, body image concerns and sought appearance gratifications

Abstract

The present study examined the antecedents of visually oriented social media use based on the Transactional Model of Social Media and Body Image Concerns. Specifically, we studied how self-esteem, depressive symptoms, body dissatisfaction, and appearance consciousness within the social media context are, via two social media gratifications (i.e., appearance related self-validation and social comparison), related to the use of visually oriented social media platforms (i.e., Instagram and Snapchat). Based on data from a two-wave panel survey among 1852 social media users aged 13–25, we found that appearance consciousness and high self-esteem were significant predictors of the gratifications self-validation and social comparison. Increased body dissatisfaction also predicted social comparison. Appearance consciousness and self-esteem indirectly predicted the selection of visually oriented social media platforms via self-validation. These findings enhance our theoretical understanding of visually oriented social media use and its underlying mechanisms.