The relationship between internalization of beauty ideals and selfie editing among female college students: the mediating role of appearance anxiety and the moderating role of self-concept clarity

Background In the digital age, social media has gradually become an important medium for individuals to showcase their body images. The overwhelming presence of idealized beauty images on these platforms has significantly influenced how individuals perceive and evaluate themselves. Particularly for female college students, they are enthusiastic about beautifying and editing the selfies they upload on social media, so as to quickly obtain an ideal appearance and achieve psychological satisfaction. Therefore, selfie editing has also gradually become an important form of positive self-expression on the Internet. However, the information propagated on social media often does not represent the true image, which is likely to trigger individuals' appearance anxiety. Methods This study aimed to explore the relationship between the internalization of beauty ideals and selfie editing among female college students, with a particular focus on the mediating role of appearance anxiety and the moderating role of self-concept clarity. This study selected female college students with experience in selfie editing as participants. A questionnaire survey method was adopted to investigate 1,212 female college students from three universities in Tianjin, China (M = 20.10, SD = 1.02). All participants completed the measurements of the internalization of beauty ideals, appearance anxiety, self-concept clarity, and selfie editing. Data analysis was conducted using model establishment in SPSS 26.0. Results The results showed that the internalization of beauty ideals had a direct negative impact on the selfie editing of female college students. The internalization of beauty ideals indirectly had a negative impact on selfie editing through appearance anxiety. In addition, self-concept clarity had a significant moderating effect on this indirect relationship. Individuals with higher self-concept clarity were better able to resist the negative impact brought about by the internalization of ideal beauty and reduce appearance anxiety. Conclusion This study enriches our theoretical understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying self-presentation behaviors in a media-saturated environment, clarifies the understanding of the relationship between the internalization of beauty ideals and selfie editing, and provides valuable insights for promoting the establishment of a healthy body image and the achievement of self-acceptance among female college students.