the present study aimed to examine the moderating role of internalization of appearance ideals and body dissatisfaction in the relationship between social media use and social–physical anxiety among female university students in Tehran. The study population comprised all female students enrolled in Islamic Azad University campuses in Tehran in 2024. Based on Cochran’s formula, a total of 384 female students from the Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, were selected using purposive sampling. To assess the study variables, the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (Thompson et al., 2000), the Body Image Concern Questionnaire (Littleton et al., 2005), the Social Networks and Media Questionnaire (Jahani, 2018), and the Social–Physical Anxiety Scale (Hart et al., 2008) were employed. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and hierarchical moderation regression in SPSS version 27. The findings indicated significant positive correlations between social media use and social–physical anxiety, as well as between social media use and both internalization of appearance ideals and body dissatisfaction (p<0.01). Furthermore, internalization of appearance ideals and body dissatisfaction were found to moderate the relationship between social media use and social–physical anxiety (p<0.01). These results suggest that the relationship between social media use and social–physical anxiety is not a simple linear association and that internalization of appearance ideals and body dissatisfaction can influence this relationship.