İnvestigation of the relationship between social media usage and physical perception and depression in young adults

This study aims to investigate the relationship between social media use and body image and depression in young adults by some variables. For this reason, Personal Information Form, Body Perception Scale and Beck Depression Scale were applied to 375 young adults aged 20-29 years. The mean score of the participants from the body perception scale was 83.45±25.29 and 27.2% of the participants were found dissatisfied with their bodies. In addition, there was no depression in the participants according to the mean score obtained from the Beck Depression Scale by 9.26±8.69. It was determined that using social media sities frequently and using them frequently increased the negative body perception and showed a significant difference in negative body perception compared to those who were not members of social media. However, having little time to share and having a small number of followers and liking after having used social media has an increasing effect on negative body perception. In addition, young people who have a small number of followers and likes and share less are significantly more likely to have depression than other groups. Therefore, it is possible to say that there is a positive effect on the depression levels of young people as well as on body perception as share, followers and likes are more common in social media usage. The aim of the study is to be a source for future research on social media use, depression and body perception Keywords: Social Media, Body Perception, Depression