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In recent years, the cosplay practice has become a ubiquitous activity, representing a pivotal way to get in touch with the so-called geek culture and its media content (such as videogames, comics, manga). Cosplaying appeared related to narcissistic fragility which in turn is strictly linked to social appearance anxiety and self-objectification exp...
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... showed higher means in contingent self-esteem, body surveillance, body shame, and social appearance anxiety. Bivariate correlations among the variables showed a significant and positive co-occurrence of social appearance anxiety with all the involved variables, except gender (Table 2). Note. ...Citations
Background: Photo investment refers to concerns about the quality of the photo and effort expended
in choosing self-photos to post online; it demonstrated an association with negative body image. To
examine it, the Photo Investment Scale (PIS) was developed. The current study aims to examine the
factorial structure, gender invariance, internal consistency, temporal stability, and convergent validity
of the Italian version of the PIS. Secondly, we examined the associations between photo investment
and both body dissatisfaction and social anxiety.
Methods: A sample of 250 individuals (women: 56%; age: M = 25.36; SD = 7.97) completed the PIS
alongside measures related to photo-based behaviours, body dissatisfaction, and social anxiety
symptoms; 112 of them (women: 66.96%; age: M = 24.95; SD = 7.17) completed the PIS after 4 weeks.
The sample was divided in two and one half was employed for an Exploratory Factor Analysis, while
the other half for a Confirmatory Factor Analysis and a gender invariance. Furthermore, internal
consistency was evaluated by calculating the McDonald’s Omega and the Greatest Lower Bound.
Temporal stability was tested using Pearson’s correlations and t-tests. Moreover, convergent validity
was tested using Pearson’s correlations. Finally, hierarchical multiple regressions were computed to
test the associations between photo investment and both body dissatisfaction and social anxiety.
Results: Firstly, the PIS showed a one-factor structure and a partial gender invariance. Internal
consistency, temporal stability, and convergent validity were adequate. Secondly, photo investment
emerged as uniquely associated with body dissatisfaction and social anxiety, after controlling for
confounding variables.
Conclusions: The Italian version of the PIS as a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of photo
investment. Moreover, this photo-based behaviour emerged as a unique construct that supposedly
could hinder individuals’ body image and increase anxiety during social interactions. Thus, evaluating
photo investment could be relevant for the assessment of body image disorders and social anxiety
disorder.
