The third-person effects of self-exposure to appearance content on different genders’ appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior in social media

Mengru Sun; Yuanyi Mao; Guanxiong Huang

doi:10.1007/s12144-026-09619-z

The third-person effects of self-exposure to appearance content on different genders’ appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior in social media

Mengru Sun
, Yuanyi Mao
, Guanxiong Huang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Media and Communication

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

2 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Although appearance has become an important issue in social media, the third-person effect of targeted friends may vary due to the social distance and psychological self-enhancement effects. In this research, we propose a framework to examine the effects of self-exposure to appearance content on user perceptions of different genders’ appearance anxiety and their selfie-editing behavior in social media. The framework was tested through an online survey of female social media users in mainland China (N = 1,236) using the stratified sampling method. It was found that exposure to appearance content was positively related to its perceived influence on users’ appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior. Exposure to appearance content was also indirectly positively related to its perceived influence on users’ appearance anxiety through the presumed influence of such content on friends. However, users’ selfie-editing behavior was negatively related to the perceived influence of appearance content on male friends’ appearance anxiety but positively related to the perceived influence of appearance content on female friends’ appearance anxiety. We discuss the theoretical implications regarding the third-person effects of self-exposure to appearance content on different genders’ appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior in social media, along with the practical implications.
© The Author(s) 2026

Original language	English
Article number	1065
Number of pages	12
Journal	Current Psychology
Volume	45
Issue number	11
Online published	15 Jun 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-026-09619-z
Publication status	Published - 2026

Funding

Open access publishing enabled by City University of Hong Kong Library's agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported by the Strategic Research Grant from City University of Hong Kong (Project No. 7005700) and Social Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Project No. 25CCG09).

Research Keywords

Third-person effect
Self-exposure to appearance content
Appearance anxiety
Selfie-editing behavior
Gender

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title = "The third-person effects of self-exposure to appearance content on different genders{\textquoteright} appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior in social media",

abstract = "Although appearance has become an important issue in social media, the third-person effect of targeted friends may vary due to the social distance and psychological self-enhancement effects. In this research, we propose a framework to examine the effects of self-exposure to appearance content on user perceptions of different genders{\textquoteright} appearance anxiety and their selfie-editing behavior in social media. The framework was tested through an online survey of female social media users in mainland China (N = 1,236) using the stratified sampling method. It was found that exposure to appearance content was positively related to its perceived influence on users{\textquoteright} appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior. Exposure to appearance content was also indirectly positively related to its perceived influence on users{\textquoteright} appearance anxiety through the presumed influence of such content on friends. However, users{\textquoteright} selfie-editing behavior was negatively related to the perceived influence of appearance content on male friends{\textquoteright} appearance anxiety but positively related to the perceived influence of appearance content on female friends{\textquoteright} appearance anxiety. We discuss the theoretical implications regarding the third-person effects of self-exposure to appearance content on different genders{\textquoteright} appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior in social media, along with the practical implications. {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2026",

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AU - Mao, Yuanyi

AU - Huang, Guanxiong

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N2 - Although appearance has become an important issue in social media, the third-person effect of targeted friends may vary due to the social distance and psychological self-enhancement effects. In this research, we propose a framework to examine the effects of self-exposure to appearance content on user perceptions of different genders’ appearance anxiety and their selfie-editing behavior in social media. The framework was tested through an online survey of female social media users in mainland China (N = 1,236) using the stratified sampling method. It was found that exposure to appearance content was positively related to its perceived influence on users’ appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior. Exposure to appearance content was also indirectly positively related to its perceived influence on users’ appearance anxiety through the presumed influence of such content on friends. However, users’ selfie-editing behavior was negatively related to the perceived influence of appearance content on male friends’ appearance anxiety but positively related to the perceived influence of appearance content on female friends’ appearance anxiety. We discuss the theoretical implications regarding the third-person effects of self-exposure to appearance content on different genders’ appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior in social media, along with the practical implications. © The Author(s) 2026

AB - Although appearance has become an important issue in social media, the third-person effect of targeted friends may vary due to the social distance and psychological self-enhancement effects. In this research, we propose a framework to examine the effects of self-exposure to appearance content on user perceptions of different genders’ appearance anxiety and their selfie-editing behavior in social media. The framework was tested through an online survey of female social media users in mainland China (N = 1,236) using the stratified sampling method. It was found that exposure to appearance content was positively related to its perceived influence on users’ appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior. Exposure to appearance content was also indirectly positively related to its perceived influence on users’ appearance anxiety through the presumed influence of such content on friends. However, users’ selfie-editing behavior was negatively related to the perceived influence of appearance content on male friends’ appearance anxiety but positively related to the perceived influence of appearance content on female friends’ appearance anxiety. We discuss the theoretical implications regarding the third-person effects of self-exposure to appearance content on different genders’ appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior in social media, along with the practical implications. © The Author(s) 2026

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The third-person effects of self-exposure to appearance content on different genders’ appearance anxiety and selfie-editing behavior in social media

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Research Keywords

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