Compulsive repetitive behaviors and mental acts due to concerns about your appearance, are symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Previous research suggests that the compulsive behaviors found in people with BDD occur in online and offline settings (e.g., extensive editing of selfies intended for publication online and excessive mirror gazing offline). Also, previous research shows that BDD and social media use vary with age. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine age as a moderator in the relationship between compulsive behaviors online and the risk behaviors of BDD offline, through a cross-sectional design. The inclusion criteria for the study were being a minimum of 16 years old, a Swedish citizen and a user of social media. The data were collected through a survey, consisting of questions intended to screen for compulsive behaviors online in relation to appearance concerns, risk behaviors of BDD offline and the prevalence of BDD. The results showed that younger participants engaged in more compulsive behaviors online and risk behaviors of BDD. The group in high risk of BDD also engaged more in both behaviors, than participants in low risk of BDD. In addition, the results showed that age did act as a moderator in the relationship between compulsive behaviors online and risk behaviors of BDD. Age showed to especially affect the relationship between the number of compulsive behaviors online and risk behaviors of BDD in older participants. / Tvångsmässiga repetitiva beteenden och mentala handlingar som beror på oro kring sitt utseende, är symptom av dysmorfobi (BDD). Tidigare forskning visar att tvångsmässiga beteenden sker både online och offline (tex., överdriven redigering av selfies i syfte att publicera dem online och att spegla sig överdrivet mycket offline). Tidigare forskning visar även att BDD och sociala medier-användning varierar med ålder. Genom en tvärsnittsdesign ämnade därför denna studie att undersöka om ålder modererar relationen mellan tvångsmässigt beteende online och riskbeteende för BDD. Datainsamlingen bestod av ett frågeformulär med frågor kring tvångsmässigt beteende online i relation till oro kring utseendet, riskbeteende för BDD samt prevalensen av BDD. Inklusionskriterierna för att delta i studien var att vara minst 16 år gammal, svensk medborgare samt användare av sociala medier. Resultaten visade att de yngre deltagarna i studien utför både fler tvångsmässiga beteenden online samt fler riskbeteenden offline än de äldre deltagarna. Den grupp som ansågs ha hög risk för BDD utförde även båda beteendena mer än de deltagarna med låg risk för BDD. Resultaten visade vidare att ålder var en moderator i relationen mellan tvångsmässiga beteenden online och riskbeteenden för BDD. Mer specifikt hade en äldre ålder störst effekt på relationen mellan beteendena online och offline.

Due to the global pandemic, Covid-19, the whole world has had to rapidly change to decrease the spread of the virus. Universities all over the world have had to move their teaching online due to the students being told to stay at home and avoid social interactions. In this study, we explore how university students' social media usage has changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We also investigate how social media has been used as a coping strategy to deal with the changes of everyday life during the pandemic. In total 54 students participated in a survey and a total of six students also participated in a semi-structured interview. Our findings propose that the student's primary reason for social media usage was for communication with others and to seek emotional support from friends and family. The secondary reason was for entertainment. We further discovered that students tend to be more dependent on their social media than what they would like to admit - especially for killing time and to avoid boredom. We also found out that the students have become more lonely during the Covid-19 pandemic and would feel ashamed if they were breaking the restrictions to meet a friend and of their increased social media usage. Social media has therefore become a tool for coping with the emotional distress caused by the pandemic.

The purpose of this study was to explore the association between problematic social media use (PSMU) and self-rated health (SRH) among Swedish adolescent boys and girls, and additionally to examine whether perceived familial social support buffers against poor health in the same association. The study was based on the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey from 2017/2018. The study sample consisted of 3371 adolescents from 213 schools across Sweden. PSMU was used as the exposure variable, SRH as theoutcome variable, age and gender as control variables, and perceived familial social support was applied as a moderator between PSMU and SRH. The analyses performed in the current study was cross-tabulations, binary logistic regression, multiplicative and additive interaction analysis. The results revealed that there is a significant association between PSMU and SRHamong Swedish adolescents. Adolescents with moderate level PSMU had 2.77 higher odds of reporting less than good health (95% CI 2.00-3.84) in comparison to adolescents with low levels of PSMU. Adolescents with high level PSMU had furthermore 4.16 odds of reporting less than good health PSMU (95% CI 2.41-7.20) in comparison to adolescents with low levelPSMU. The association between PSMU and SRH remained statistically significant even after adjusting for age, gender, and perceived familial social support. The interaction analyses did moreover reveal that perceived familial social support may play a crucial role by mitigating the effects of high level PSMU on SRH among Swedish adolescents. In a conclusion, it is of vital importance to understand PSMU in relation to the social context to better understand PSMU and prevent young people from poor SRH. Future research may address the same association but in relation to other social factors, such as socioeconomic status, to achieveenhanced understanding over the association between PSMU and SRH and how to better prevent poor health among young people. Policy makers could furthermore introduce support programs for families/parents who feel they lack confidence in the ability to act as sufficient support, which may reduce the risk for poor health among young people.