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 experiences. However, despite the body image centrality in cosplay
practice, no studies evaluated cosplayers’ narcissistic vulnerability in association with these body imagerelated issues. A total of 926 young adults (73.2% female; 47.3% cosplayer; mean age=25.3 years)
participated in the study. Results confirmed the direct and indirect effect of narcissistic vulnerability
on social appearance anxiety (via body surveillance and body shame) among both cosplayers and noncosplayers. Overall, narcissistically vulnerable individuals, regardless of their involvement in cosplay
practice, seem to experience higher body surveillance and body shame, which in turn might promote
social appearance anxiety
