The mediating role of duration of social media usage in the relationship between ınferiority and superiority complex and social appearance anxiety

The widespread integration of digital technologies in daily life has led to an increase in screen-based activities across all age groups. This phenomenon, most referred as screen time, covers a wide range of activities, from social media interaction and online gaming to video streaming and internet browsing. Alongside, research interests about psychological consequences of specific social media use has also recently increased (Oswald et al., 2020). The current research focuses on the complex relationships between psychological constructs such as inferiority complex, superiority complex, and social appearance anxiety and the potential mediating role of Instagram screen time. In the current study, the relationship between the variables was also examined within the framework of structural equation modeling (SEM). According to the results of SEM analysis, inferiority and superiority complex did not play a mediating role in the relationship between inferiority and superiority complex and social appearance anxiety, whereas inferiority and superiority complex significantly predicted social appearance anxiety. The relationship between inferiority complex and Instagram screen time was negatively correlated. SEM analysis suggested that the relationship between psychological factors and screen time may be a complex structure and that the effect of psychological self concepts may be the main factor of social appearance anxiety rather than Instagram usage. Future research could contribute to the literature with explaining these complex relationships by investigating what other psychological concepts are related to inferiority and superiority complexes and investigating Instagram usage and screen time more specifically, such as investigating people who are only exposed to appearance-oriented content.