Magic mirror, who is the fairest one of all? testing the mediating effect between short-video social media exposure and appearance anxiety.

Abstract

Our aim was to examine the relationship between short-video social media exposure and appearance anxiety among female youth, as well as the serial mediation of capitalization of sexual attractiveness and upward social media appearance comparison. In this study, 585 female youths from China were selected as participants. The Short-Video Social Media Exposure Scale, Capitalization of Sexual Attractiveness Scale, Upward Social Media Appearance Comparison Scale, and Appearance Anxiety Scale were used to measure participants. The findings revealed that the short-video social media exposure positively predicted appearance anxiety. Additionally, the capitalization of sexual attractiveness and upward social media appearance comparison mediated the relationship between short-video social media exposure and appearance anxiety, respectively. Furthermore, the capitalization of sexual attractiveness and upward social media appearance comparison also had a serial mediation effect. The result explained that short-video social media exposure not only predicts appearance anxiety through the mediating effects of capitalization of sexual attractiveness and upward social media appearance comparison, but also by a serial mediation of capitalization of sexual attractiveness and upward social media appearance comparison.