IMPACT OF PROBLEMATIC SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND BODY IMAGE ON SOCIAL ISOLATION AMONG HEALTH AND FITNESS ENTHUSIASTS IN OWERRI, NIGERIA

Abstract

  This study investigated the impact of problematic social media use and body image on social isolation among health and fitness enthusiasts in Owerri, Nigeria. A sample of 200  health and fitness enthusiasts were recruited from Prolife fitness gym, Pinewood hotel gym, Wolfsmart gym, Maximobi hotel gym, and Kanu sports center using convenience sampling.  The age range of the participants were between 18 and 44 years (M = 27.57, SD = 8.498) consisting of 85 males and 115 females. Two hypotheses were proposed and tested. Data were collected using both paper questionnaires and google form Participants completed a demographic survey along with three self-report measures including UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA LS) by Russell et al. (1978), Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) by Andreassen et al. (2012), and Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4) by Schaefer et al. (2014). A cross-sectional survey design was used in the study and linear regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Results of the study showed that problematic social media use has significant impact on social isolation, and body image also has a significant impact on social isolation. The implications of these findings highlight the importance of promoting healthy social media habits and fostering positive body image perceptions to mitigate the risk of social isolation among health and fitness enthusiasts.   Keywords: Problematic social media use, body image, social isolation, fitness and health, gym