The moderating role of gender in the relationship between the two variables of body image and self-esteem using Instagram

Salmani, Fatemeh, Kiani, Mohamadreza and Akbaryborng, Moham The moderating role of gender in the relationship between the two variables of body image and self-esteem using Instagram. Human Information Interaction, 2025, vol. 12, n. 1, pp. 94-113. [Journal article (Paginated)]

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English abstract

Introduction Given the importance of social media and the popularity of Instagram as a popular platform among young people, especially women, this study examined the moderating role of gender in the relationship between body image using Instagram and self-esteem using Instagram. The secondary objectives of the study were to investigate the relationship between body image and self-esteem in Instagram users in general, compare the level of body image and self-esteem between female and male Instagram users, examine the effect of the level and type of Instagram use on body image in women and men, and analyze the difference in the intensity of the effect of body image on self-esteem in women and men as a moderating role. Methods and Materoal This correlational study was conducted using questionnaires on "body image", "self-esteem" and "Instagram use" in a sample of 375 people from the student population of Birjand University who were selected by proportional stratified random sampling method. Findings: Gender was a significant moderating variable in the relationship between body image and Instagram use and self-esteem and Instagram use. The relationship between negative body image and Instagram use was not significant in male students; however, the relationship between negative body image and Instagram use was significant and direct in female students. Also, there was no significant relationship between self-esteem and Instagram use in male students, while the relationship between self-esteem and Instagram use in female students was significant and inverse. Conclusion In today's interconnected world, many social relationships and interactions with others are virtual, providing easy conditions for exchanging information, news, events with the ability to comment, with a wide audience, and even producing content, and trying to make the most information and content available to its audience in the shortest possible time; therefore, social media has attracted increasing attention. Since the largest group of social media users, according to research, are young people, and Instagram, as a social media platform, has been able to fulfill the desires of young people and quickly overtake other social media examples, this research focused on studying this platform.Instagram is a visual app that allows users to post photos, videos, selfies, and live broadcasts, and also provides the necessary interaction so that users can react to their followers' stories and posts. The platform's many capabilities and its appeal to young people led the study population to show high usage figures for this medium, which could provide many opportunities for decision-makers in society to use these capabilities to improve the standards of social life today. One of the topics that has been considered in the study of Instagram and social networks is their relationship with psychological issues. Many studies have shown that the extensive use of Instagram is related to a wide range of psychological issues, especially for younger users of the Instagram app. In this study, the relationship between Instagram and two psychological issues of body image and self-esteem was addressed. The results of the questions confirmed that students, as an active segment of society, have high self-esteem and a favorable body image. This is a promising future. Of course, care must be taken not to change the living conditions after university to reduce the amount of these valuable variables, and protecting such capital is a serious task for community managers. The predictor variable of this study was body image, including the components of appearance dissatisfaction and functional interference (interference of anxiety about appearance with social functioning). There was a positive and significant relationship between body image and both of its components (appearance dissatisfaction and functional interference) and use. In other words, the higher the respondents' apparent dissatisfaction and functional interference, the greater their use of Instagram. Based on the regression results, functional interference was a stronger predictor of Instagram use, and the apparent dissatisfaction variable ranked next. Here, two hypotheses are proposed. First hypothesis: Gender has a moderating role in the relationship between body image and the amount of Instagram use. To examine this hypothesis, due to the existence of a moderating variable (gender), the body image multiplier variable was initially obtained by gender. To test the moderating role of gender, a linear regression test was used. The results of the regression, considering the role of the moderating variable, show that the coefficient of determination of the dependent variable has increased from 0.022 to 0.043. The prediction rate of body image from Instagram use in the first model is 0.148 and in the second model (with the moderating variable entered), it is 0.208. Also, in model number two, it has been determined that the moderating variable of gender has a decreasing role and its beta value is -0.261. Since the t-statistic is also -2.889 and its absolute value is greater than the critical value of 1.96, therefore, the moderating role of gender is significant. Given that the role of the moderating variable was confirmed in the above test, to determine this role in each of the groups of women and men, after halving the data, the Pearson correlation coefficient test was used between the body image variables and Instagram use. The correlation coefficient value (-0.012) and Sig=0.925, which is not significant at the significance level of 0.05; therefore, the relationship between body image and Instagram use was not significant in the male group. Further, in the female group, the correlation coefficient value (0.208) and Sig=0.0001 was obtained, indicating that there is a significant relationship between body image and Instagram use. The second hypothesis that was examined: Gender has a moderating role in the relationship between self-esteem and the amount of Instagram use. To examine this hypothesis, due to the presence of a moderating variable (gender), the multiplicative variable of self-esteem in gender is obtained first. To test the moderating role of gender, a linear regression test was used. The results of the regression, considering the role of the moderating variable, show that the coefficient of determination of the dependent variable has increased from 0.004 to 0.039. The prediction rate of self-esteem from using Instagram in the first model is 0.066 and in the second model (entering the moderating variable) is 0.197. It has also been determined in model number two that the moderating variable of gender has a decreasing role and its beta value is -0.240. Since the t-statistic is also -3.650 and its absolute value is greater than the critical value of 1.96, therefore the moderating role of gender is significant. Further, in the female group, the correlation coefficient was (-0.120) and Sig=0.036, which is less than the significance level of 0.05, which allows us to conclude that there is a significant and inverse relationship between self-esteem and use. The results of examining the two hypotheses were as follows: Gender was significant as a moderating variable in this hypothesis;The relationship between body image and Instagram use was not significant in male students;The relationship between body image and Instagram use was significant and positive in female students.The relationship between self-esteem and Instagram use was not significant in male students;The relationship between self-esteem and Instagram use was significant and inverse in female students.  

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: Body image, gender, Instagram, self-esteem.
Subjects: D. Libraries as physical collections. > DC. Public libraries.
Depositing user: HII Journal Human Information Interaction
Date deposited: 25 Feb 2026 17:52
Last modified: 25 Feb 2026 17:52
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/47559

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