Am I thin enough? Social media use and the ideal body stereotype: The mediating role of perceived socio-cultural pressure and the moderating role of cognitive fusion.

Previous research investigated the role of social media use and perceived socio-cultural pressure as predictors of the endorsement of ideal body stereotypes. However, not much has been explored concerning cognitive fusion and its role within this framework. The current study investigated social media use as a predictor of ideal body stereotypes and how this relationship is mediated by perceived social pressure. Additionally, we explored the potential moderating roles of cognitive fusion within these relationships. Our sample consisted of 489 participants aged 18 to 53 (73.2% females). The findings suggested that the participants' reported social media use level significantly predicted both the ideal body stereotypes and the perceived social pressure. The overall effect of perceived social pressure on ideal body stereotypes was not significant. However, at low levels of cognitive fusion, the perceived social pressure significantly mediated the relationship between social media use and ideal body stereotype. We consider the current findings significant for their contribution to potential educational programs designed to address the adverse consequences of social media use on psychological and physical well-being. Highlights: Higher social media use (SMU) levels are associated with higher levels of ideal body stereotype (IBS) Perceived socio-cultural pressure (PSP) mediates the relationship between SMU and IBS Cognitive fusion (CF) moderates the pathway between SMU and perceived social pressure (PSP) PSP predicted IBS only at low levels of CF We found significant gender differences in cognitive fusion and IBS [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]