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The roles of self-compression and self-esteem in the relationship between the usage of dating apps and body satisfaction
Author(s)
Date Issued
2023
Citation
Lo, Y. M., & Chui, C. F. (2023 Jun 28). The roles of self-compression and self-esteem in the relationship between the usage of dating apps and body satisfaction. PT 2023, Hong Kong.
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Studies have reported an increasing number of young adults, regardless of gender and sexual
orientation, using dating apps actively. Dating apps with global positional systems (GPS) help
people to meet friends, sexual partners, or romantic partners more conveniently and accessible.
However, the immediate and image-focused function of dating apps encourages users to evaluate
other users based on the impression of the brief self-introduction and physical appearance.
Receiving real-time user feedback through likes, matches, or other interactive functions enhances
an individual's pressure on appearance. This study examines the influence of dating app usage on
body satisfaction and self-esteem and explores whether self-compassion can moderate the effect
of dating app use on body satisfaction and self-esteem. The study collected 133 samples of
Chinese young adult dating app users in Hong Kong (mean age = 21.7; 50 males and 83 females).
The short form of the Self-compassion scale (SCS-SF), the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSE), the
Adolescent Body Image Satisfaction Scale (ABISS) and the time of using online dating apps were
employed in this study. The hypothesised moderation model of this study was examined by the
macro “PROCESS” for SPSS. Self-compassion was added as a moderator of the model that affects
the relationship between the usage of dating apps and body satisfaction, as well as the
relationship between the usage of dating apps and self-esteem. The results showed that the
frequency of using dating apps is not related to self-esteem (t=-1.31, p=.19), while selfcompassion is significantly related to it (t=6.90, p<.001). The interaction between the usage of
dating apps and self-compassion also does not have a significant effect on self-esteem (t=1.51,
p=.13). Meanwhile, the usage of dating apps, self-esteem and self-compassion are all significantly
related to body dissatisfaction (t=2.26, p=.03; t=-2.57, p=.01; t=-5.03, p<.001). Using dating apps
is positively associated with body dissatisfaction, while self-esteem and self-compassion are
negatively related to body dissatisfaction. However, the interaction between the usage of dating
apps and self-compassion does not significantly affect body dissatisfaction (t=-1.10, p=.27). The
above results imply that using more online dating apps will lead to more body dissatisfaction. In
contrast, high self-esteem and high self-compassion can reduce body dissatisfaction. But selfcompression fails to buffer the adverse effects of using dating apps on psychological outcomes.
Based on the above results, an additional test was conducted to examine whether self-esteem
can be a buffer to the negative effects of using dating apps on body dissatisfaction. The results
showed that the interaction between the usage of online dating apps and self-esteem has a
significant effect on body dissatisfaction (t=-2.33, p=.02). The usage of online dating apps
enhances the body dissatisfaction of participants with low levels of self-esteem (t=2.47, p=.02)
while it does not affect the dissatisfaction of participants with high and moderate levels of selfesteem (t=-0.26, p=.79; t=0.74, p=.46). These results suggest that the self-esteem intervention
can be delivered to frequent users of online dating apps to mitigate the negative effects of using
online dating apps on their body dissatisfaction.
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