The impact of narcissistic personality traits on social media interaction and body image: individual and team athletes

Introduction – The aim of this study is to examine the effect of narcissistic personality traits on body image through social media interaction and to comparatively evaluate these relationships in the context of athletes engaged in individual and team sports. Methods – The research group consisted of a total of 389 athletes, namely 158 female (age = 21.53 ± 3.16; years of sports experiences = 5.56 ± 4.17) and 231 male (age = 23.00 ± 5.09; years of sports experience = 8.28 ± 5.44) athletes, all residing in the Eastern Anatolia region and having a sports background. A personal information form, the “Narcissism on Social Media Scale, ” and the “Body Image Scale” were used as data collection tools. Analysis of the obtained data revealed a normal distribution; therefore, t-tests were used to compare two groups, ANOVA for comparisons of two variables, Pearson Correlation to evaluate relationships between parameters, and regression analysis to determine the effect. Results – As a result of the analyses, no significant difference was observed in terms of the type of sport variable. The study found that, among athletes engaged in individual sports, body image levels were higher in males compared to females and, in individual athletes, the narcissistic rivalry dimension was more prevalent in athletes who used social media for 5 h or more compared to those using it for less than 1 h. Multiple correlation analysis revealed no significant relationship between scale dimensions and years of sports experience. Regression analysis showed that body image level had a low but significant effect on narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry. Conclusion – In conclusion, it was determined that athletes in individual sports are sensitive to demographic variables, and that the duration of social media use, in particular, is a factor that increases narcissistic competitive tendencies. The fact that years of sports experience and type of sport did not make a difference suggests that the dimensions used are shaped more by current psychosocial interactions. Indeed, the regression analysis also shows that the relationship between body image and narcissistic admiration and competition points to a weak but significant psychological interaction network.