The role of social media use in the relationship between self-esteem and body image

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and body image, but also the moderating role of social media use on the relationship between self-esteem and body image. A number of 166 people, aged between 18 and 80, M = 26.39, SD = 11.13, participated in this research, of which 19 were male, 145 were female, and two participants declared that they belonged to another gender. The materials used were: Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015) and The Facebook Intensity Scale (Ellison et al., 2007). The results showed that self-esteem is a significant predictor of body image and social media use does not moderate the relationship between self-esteem and body image.