Social Media Use, Body Image, and Psychological Well-Being: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Korea and the United States

2014/05/09 by Hye‐Ryeon Lee, Hye-Ryeon Lee, Hye Eun Lee +3 · 1 citation
Psychology · Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Eating Disorders and Behaviors #Impact of Technology on Adolescents #Media Influence and Health #Psychology #Social psychology #Psychological well-being #Social media #Cultural values #Well-being #Life satisfaction #Sociology #Political science #Gender studies

paper · doi:10.1080/10810730.2014.904022

openalex publication_date 2014/05/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

This study examined the relationships among social media use for information, self-status seeking and socializing, body image, self-esteem, and psychological well-being, and some cultural effects moderating these relationships. Americans (n = 502) and Koreans (n = 518) completed an online survey. The main findings showed that (a) social media use for information about body image is negatively related to body satisfaction in the United States and Korea, while social media use for self-status seeking regarding body image is positively related to body satisfaction only in Korea; and (b) body satisfaction has direct and indirect positive effects on psychological well-being manifested in similar ways in the United States and Korea. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Citations

• Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being.
• Cross‐Cultural Comparisons of Appearance Self‐Schema, Body Image, Self‐Esteem, and Dieting Behavior Between Korean and U.S. Women
• The Peer Appearance Culture During Adolescence: Gender and Body Mass Variations
• The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts.
• Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.
• Body Image and Self-Esteem Across Age and Gender: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study
• Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media

Cited by

• Body image [wikipedia]

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