The Relationship Between Social Media Use, Body Appreciation and Academic Performance Among Saudi Female Undergraduate Students

Abstract

University students spend hours online using various applications. Studies have shown that social media (SM) use influences students' body appreciation and academic performance. This study aimed to investigate whether spending more hours on SM would result in more negative body appreciation and lower academic performance, and whether age, hours spent on SM, and the purpose of SM (e.g., entertainment, education, socializing) could predict body appreciation and academic performance. A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of female students (N = 368; age range, 18–23; M = 20 years, SD = 3.7) at several universities in Riyadh using a self-selected sampling technique. Data collected through an online survey includes age, grade point average (GPA), and questions about SM use, and the Arabic Body Appreciation Scale (BAS-2) version. The findings revealed that almost 50% of participants spent more than five hours daily on SM, 92% used visual-based apps more than text-based apps, and participants reported high levels of body appreciation, M=4.2, SD=1.2. Multivariate analysis revealed that greater SM time and entertainment-focused SM use were associated with slightly lower body appreciation scores (β = -0.36, p = 0.01), while younger age (β = -0.015, p = 0.036) predicted higher GPA. Therefore, further studies should investigate why SM use impacts body appreciation but not academic performance in female students, considering different aspects.