Social Media and Body Image with African American College Students Moderation of Social Comparison

Social media is a popular activity for emerging adults. Recent research shows that a negative relationship exists between social media use and mental health, particularly related to body image. Social media can adversely affect body image by falsely providing an idealistic or fake perspective, leading to body dysmorphia or mental health issues. However, this research has not been explored with African American college students. It is also not clear how social media plays a role in social media use and body image. Social comparison theory posits that more time comparing with others, which is easily done on social media, can negatively affect individuals’ attitudes toward themselves. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relationship between social media use and body image and whether social comparison moderated that relationship among African American college students using a quantitative predictive-correlational design. One hundred fifteen participants were recruited from social media pages based on the Eastern U.S. to complete an online survey. Using regression analyses, this study found that social comparison did not moderate the relationship between social media use and body image distress, but social media use was related to body image distress. This study promotes positive social change by bringing awareness and perspective to a population that has not been researched specifically and provides support for the growth and progression of African American college students.