The Interplay of Individualism and Collectivism in Shaping Body Image: A Panel Analysis on Social Media 2010-2022 (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Body image, a critical psychological construct reflecting one's perception of their own body, plays a pivotal role in both mental and physical health. The intricate interplay of socio-cultural factors, specifically individualism and collectivism, in shaping body image, remains an area of contention. OBJECTIVE Prior research, often constrained by limited sample sizes, selection bias, and a reliance on cross-sectional methodologies, has yielded inconsistent findings. Hence, through affective computing, this study aims to derive an index for body image and to explore the impact of sociocultural factors on body image. METHODS This research employs natural language process (NLP) to analyze Weibo data. Panel data, encompassing measures of individualism, collectivism, divorce rates, and body image in 31 provinces of China from 2010-2022, is integrated with macro indicators for comprehensive analysis. RESULTS Using the random effect model, individualism is a significant negative predictor of body image (β = -0.024, p < 0.01) while collectivism positively predicts body image (β = 0.284, p < 0.01). The divorce rate, aligning with individualism, negatively affects body image. Moreover, in regions characterized by high levels of collectivism, higher individualism is linked to lower levels of body image (β = -0.034, p < 0.01), whereas this relationship is reversed in regions with low collectivism (β = 0.042, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight the substantial impact of cultural factors on body image, showcasing the intricate interplay between collective and individual cultures. This finding provides a new perspective for exploring the application of using social media data to monitor mental health.