The Influence of Snapchat Consumption on Saudi Women’s Self-Perception and its Relation to The Desire to Change Their Appearance: A Quantitative Approach Applying Cultivation and Social Comparison Theory

Abstract This dissertation examined Saudi women’s exposure to Snapchat content related to cosmetic procedures, including news and content creators, and its impact on their self-perception, including self-esteem, body satisfaction, perception of beauty standards, and desire to change appearance through cosmetic procedures. This study utilized cultivation and social comparison theory as theoretical groundings. An online questionnaire was distributed among Saudi women (N=307) which was analyzed using multiple statistical tests, including correlation, regression, and mediation analysis, found causal relationships and statistical significance between the variables. The findings revealed that the amount of time spent consuming news about cosmetic procedures led to a low level of self-esteem among Saudi women, but the exposure to content creators, regardless of the amount of viewing, also had an impact. The findings also indicated that consuming both news and creators’ content related to cosmetic procedures on Snapchat led to an increase in achieving beauty ideals and, thus, the desire to change appearance by undergoing cosmetic procedures. In particular, the amount of viewing of the creator’s content had an impact on both previous dependent variables. Also, it found that social comparison behavior mediated the relationships as it led to a negative impact on Saudi women’s self-esteem and body satisfaction but raised the desire to reach more beauty norms and the desire for change. However, no mediation for religiosity was observed between the variables. Keywords: Content creators, Cultivation theory, Media consumption, Saudi Arabia, Self-perception, Social comparison theory, Snapchat