Social media portrait-editing intentions: Comparisons between Chinese and American female college students

Editing pictures before posting has become a common impression management practice among social media users. Drawing from dramaturgical theory, this study explored the dispositional and cultural predictors of portrait-editing intentions between Chinese and U.S. college females through an online survey. Results demonstrate that Chinese college females exhibit higher body image self-discrepancy than American college females. Moreover, neuroticism and covert narcissism positively predict body image self-discrepancy, while overt narcissism negatively predicts self-discrepancy. In addition, body image self-discrepancy mediates the relationships between three personality traits and portrait-editing intentions for Americans. Finally, the effect of body image self-discrepancy on portrait-editing intentions is stronger for Americans than for Chinese.