Problematic internet use and exposure to sexualised content as predictors of self-objectification and body appreciation: Direct and moderated associations in emerging adults

This study examined how problematic internet use and exposure to sexualised social media content relate to body image in emerging adulthood, focusing on body appreciation and self-objectification. A total of 137 Greek emerging adults who were active social media users completed validated measures of problematic internet use, self-objectification, and body appreciation, along with a measure of perceived frequency of exposure to sexualised online content. Higher problematic internet use was associated with greater self-objectification and lower body appreciation. Self-objectification and body appreciation also differed across exposure levels, with the most pronounced differences observed in the high-exposure group. Moderation analyses indicated that exposure to sexualised content moderated the associations between problematic internet use and both body-image outcomes, although the hypothesised progressive strengthening pattern across exposure levels was not observed. For body appreciation, the negative association with problematic internet use was attenuated to non-significance specifically at medium exposure but remained significant at low and high exposure levels. For self-objectification, problematic internet use was positively associated with self-objectification across all exposure levels, although the strength of this association varied across exposure conditions. Gender additionally moderated the association between problematic internet use and self-objectification, with a generally stronger positive association among men, whereas gender did not moderate the association with body appreciation. Overall, the findings provide partial support for the proposed moderation hypotheses and highlight the importance of considering both patterns of digital engagement and content-specific exposure when examining body-image outcomes.