Narcissism and Self-esteem as Correlates of Photo Manipulation among Youth

Abstract

Background: In the present digital age, young people place a greater emphasis on posting their images on social networking sites. As a result, the increasing usage of filters and photo manipulation to improve one's appearance in photos has sparked worries about potential mental health issues. Objectives: The present study seeks to explore the gender differences in photo- manipulation, along with examining the relationship of photo manipulation with self- esteem and narcissism among youth. Method: The sample consisted of young adults (N = 92) aged 18-29 years old who were active users of social media. The Google form consisting of the three psychometric tools namely, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-16)  and Self-Photo Manipulation Scale  was shared with the participants using convenience and snowball sampling technique. Independent samples t-test and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation were carried out for data analysis. Results: There were no significant gender differences in photo manipulation among males and females. Further, self-esteem and narcissism were not correlated with photo manipulation among youth. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that photo manipulation is used by both genders, and it is becoming normalized among today’s generation.