Physique picture, referring to a person’s notion, ideas, and emotions about their bodily look, has turn out to be an more and more vital difficulty in modern society, significantly amongst younger adults. School college students, navigating the twin pressures of educational achievement and social adaptation, are significantly vulnerable to physique picture dissatisfaction. Latest surveys point out that roughly 41.6% of people aged 15–25 are dissatisfied with their bodily look, a dissatisfaction that may result in emotional challenges similar to nervousness, melancholy, and low shallowness (1). The proliferation of idealized physique requirements on social media platforms has intensified these considerations (2), particularly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted bodily actions, altered consuming habits, and heightened social isolation (3, 4). These compounding elements spotlight the pressing want to grasp how physique picture considerations contribute to psychological well being points like melancholy.
Physique picture dissatisfaction has been constantly linked to depressive signs in younger adults. Theories similar to Social Comparability Idea and Hopelessness Idea present a framework for understanding this relationship (5). Social Comparability Idea posits that people consider their look by evaluating themselves to societal requirements of magnificence, usually perpetuated by media and peer influences (6). When people understand a big hole between their very own look and these beliefs, they could expertise dissatisfaction, which may erode shallowness and contribute to depressive signs. Hopelessness Idea provides that people with a destructive cognitive fashion usually tend to interpret physique picture dissatisfaction as a worldwide, steady, and unchangeable failure, additional deepening emotions of despair and vulnerability to melancholy (7).
Whereas the hyperlink between physique picture and melancholy is well-documented, the mechanisms mediating this relationship stay a vital space of exploration. Amongst these mechanisms, self-efficacy—an idea rooted in Bandura’s Social Cognitive Idea—emerges as a pivotal issue. Self-efficacy refers to a person’s perception of their capacity to efficiently execute behaviors obligatory to realize desired outcomes (8, 9). It influences how people interpret challenges, regulate feelings, and interact in coping behaviors. Within the context of physique picture, people with low self-efficacy might really feel much less able to adopting behaviors similar to bodily exercise that might enhance their psychological well being (10, 11). Conversely, larger self-efficacy is related to larger resilience and engagement in health-promoting behaviors, which may mitigate depressive signs.
Nonetheless, self-efficacy doesn’t function in isolation. Modern behavioral change frameworks, such because the Built-in Change Mannequin (ICM), emphasize that conduct is formed by a constellation of things, together with attitudes, perceived social influences, threat perceptions, and data (12, 13). As an example, a person’s motivation to interact in bodily exercise might rely not solely on their confidence of their talents but additionally on their perceptions of social assist, their attitudes towards train, and their consciousness of its well being advantages (10). Recognizing the interaction amongst these elements is important for understanding the advanced pathways linking physique picture to melancholy.
Bodily exercise, broadly considered a cornerstone of psychological and bodily well being, performs a twin position on this course of. On the one hand, common bodily exercise improves psychological well-being by releasing mood-enhancing neurochemicals similar to endorphins, bettering sleep high quality, and lowering stress (9, 14). Alternatively, it positively influences physique picture by enhancing bodily aesthetics and boosting shallowness. But, the connection between bodily exercise and psychological well being is dynamic and influenced by individual-level elements similar to self-efficacy and exterior influences like social assist (11, 15). For instance, people with excessive self-efficacy usually tend to provoke and maintain bodily exercise, whereas these with low self-efficacy might battle to beat boundaries to participation.
Social assist, outlined as the fabric, emotional, and informational help supplied by one’s social community, additional moderates these relationships (16, 17). In accordance with the Buffering Speculation, social assist reduces the antagonistic results of stress by offering assets that improve coping talents (18, 19). Within the context of physique picture, social assist might bolster self-efficacy, encourage adherence to bodily exercise, and supply emotional reinforcement, thereby mitigating depressive signs. Empirical proof means that people with robust social assist networks are higher outfitted to navigate the challenges related to physique dissatisfaction, as they’re extra prone to interact in optimistic well being behaviors and expertise much less psychological misery (20).
Constructing on these theoretical insights, this research proposes a series mediation mannequin to look at the pathways by way of which destructive physique picture influences melancholy in school college students. Particularly, it investigates how self-efficacy and bodily exercise mediate this relationship and the way social assist moderates these pathways. By situating self-efficacy throughout the broader behavioral change literature, this research addresses vital gaps within the understanding of how cognitive, behavioral, and social elements work together to affect psychological well being outcomes.
The contributions of this research are threefold. First, it integrates key components of conduct change theories, together with self-efficacy, bodily exercise, and social assist, right into a complete framework for understanding the physique picture–melancholy relationship. Second, it situates self-efficacy inside a broader context by acknowledging its interactions with different determinants similar to attitudes and perceived social influences. Third, it highlights the moderating position of social assist, providing sensible insights for designing interventions that deal with physique picture considerations and promote psychological well being.
Primarily based on these issues, the next hypotheses are proposed:
(1) Destructive physique picture is positively correlated with melancholy.
(2) Self-efficacy and bodily exercise act as chain mediators between destructive physique picture and melancholy.
(3) Social assist performs a moderating position within the pathways of bodily exercise and melancholy, self-efficacy, and bodily exercise with the interplay of excessive assist and self-efficacy having a stronger impact on melancholy.
Primarily based on the three theoretical assumptions outlined above, this research constructs the theoretical speculation mannequin illustrated in Fig. 1.
Theoretical mannequin diagram
