Celebrity Worship and Body Image Concern: Mediating Role of Cognitive Flexibility

Abstract

Celebrity worship as a multifaceted issue, can affect the body image. In relationship between celebrity worship and body image concern, cognitive flexibility can play a remarkable role. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between celebrity worship and body image concern. The research design was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population of the study consisted of students of faculty of art and architecture of Guilan University in 2018, among which 300 students (150 females and 150 males) were recruited through convenience sampling method. The research measures consisted of Celebrity Attitude Scale (McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002), Body Image Concern Inventory (Littleton, Axsom & Pury, 2005) and Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (Dennis & Vander Wal, 2010). Data were analyzed by correlational and structural analyses. The results revealed that there are significant correlations between celebrity worship, body image concern, and cognitive flexibility. In addition, the proposed model had appropriate goodness of fit. According to the results, the indirect effect of celebrity worship through the cognitive flexibility on the body image concern was significant. The findings of this study clarified the prominence of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between celebrity worship and body image concern. Due to the mediating role of cognitive flexibility, it is possible to reduce the body image concerns that account for celebrity worship by implementing interventions based on the improvement of cognitive flexibility.