ArticleBMC psychology2026
The relationship between social networking sites body talk and cosmetic surgery intention of college students: the chain mediating effect of body surveillance and appearance anxiety and the gender differences.
Article in BMC psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough existing studies have explored the impact of social networking sites body talk on negative emotions, the mechanism underlying its influence on college students' behavioral tendency toward cosmetic surgery intentions remains unclear. Therefore, this study proposes research hypotheses to explore the mechanism of action between variables through the similar trends in the correlation between scale survey results and keyword frequencies on real social media.
methodsA mixed-methods design was adopted. A survey was conducted among 512 students using the Social Networking Sites(SNS) Body Talk Scale, the Body Surveillance Subscale of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale, the Appearance Anxiety Scale, and the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale. Additionally, 1,139 pieces of actual social media data were extracted to analyze correlations and emotional tendencies, serving as supplementary evidence for the variable relationship model.
results(1) SNS body talk has both a direct positive impact on college students' cosmetic surgery intentions (β = 0.807, P < 0.001, 95% CI [0.425, 1.189]) and an indirect impact. (2) The indirect impact is achieved through two significant paths: first, a chain mediating path of "SNS body talk → body surveillance → appearance anxiety → cosmetic surgery intentions" (standardized indirect effect, SIE = 0.186, 95% CI [0.100, 0.294]); second, an independent mediating path of "SNS body talk → appearance anxiety → cosmetic surgery intentions" (SIE = 0.160, 95% CI [0.064, 0.284]). In contrast, the path "SNS body talk → body surveillance → cosmetic surgery intentions" is not statistically significant (SIE = 0.105, 95% CI [-0.076, 0.297]). (3) Gender plays a moderating role in the direct path from SNS body talk to cosmetic surgery intentions (β = 1.063, P < 0.05, 95% CI [0.182, 1.945]).
conclusionSNS body talk affects college students’ cosmetic surgery intentions through the serial mediation of body surveillance and appearance anxiety, and gender moderates its direct effect. This study clarifies the complex psychological mechanism between body-related interactions on social media and cosmetic surgery intentions, providing empirical evidence for subsequent research on body image and aesthetic behavior.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.