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Appel, H., Gerlach, A. L., & Crusius, J. (2016). The interplay between Facebook use, social comparison, envy, and depression. Current
Opinion in Psychology, 9, 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.10.006
1
Accepted version. CC BY-NC-ND. Access typeset publisher version here.
The interplay between Facebook use, social comparison, envy, and depression
Helmut Appel, Alexander L. Gerlach, and Jan Crusius, University of Cologne
Highlights
• Facebook use has recently been linked to depression and
negative affectivity.
• Unflattering social comparison and envy are common experi-
ences for Facebook users.
• Envy and social comparison mediate correlations between
Facebook use and depression.
• Facebook research sheds new light on the relationship be-
tween envy and depression.
• Further experiments and experience sampling should cor-
roborate causal links.
Abstract
In their Facebook profiles, users communicate abundant social
comparison information conveying mainly positive self-portrayals.
Thereby, social networking sites like Facebook provide a fertile
ground for envy. This has been proposed as a mechanism for the
potential negative effects of Facebook use on well-being and de-
pression. This article reviews research on this process. Studies
show that (especially passive) Facebook use indeed predicts dif-
ferent measures of social comparison as well as envy. In several
studies social comparison or envy mediate a positive association
between Facebook use and undesirable affective outcomes such
as depression. However, causal relationships have not yet been
sufficiently established. Methodological and conceptual variety
across studies limits their comparability, but reveals viable ideas
for future research.
Keywords: Depression, self-esteem, social comparison, envy, jeal-
ousy, online social media, Facebook
Introduction
The term ‘Facebook Depression’ has become a mass media head-
line [1] suggesting detrimental effects of social networking sites
(SNSs). The available empirical evidence is equivocal however,
sometimes suggesting a positive [2, 3, 4, 5], a non-existent [6], or
even a negative [7, 8, 9] relationship between Facebook use and
depression. Given that sites such as Facebook serve a diversity of
purposes [10, 11], treating them as a one-dimensional construct
is likely an oversimplification [4, 5] resulting in conceptual impre-
cision (for an overview, see [12**]). Investigating the specific pro-
cesses at work may disentangle these disparate findings. Recently,
social comparison and envy have been suggested to be relevant
in the association between Facebook and depressed mood. Here,
we review the evidence, consider methodological issues, and dis-
cuss open questions.
Comparison and envy in an SNS context
Social comparison is a fundamental psychological process govern-
ing how people think about themselves or others [13]. In SNSs,
social comparison is ubiquitous because comparison information
(e.g., friend count) is more salient than offline [14, 15]. SNS self-
presentation is frequently motivated by impression management
[16] and the presented information is positively skewed [17, 18].
Consequently, the probability of unflattering social comparisons
increases [12**]. Negative social comparisons are at the core of
envy [19], so the chance for envy to thrive is high [20*]. Addition-
ally, users mainly interact with friends and peers on Facebook [7,
21]. This implies both similarity to comparison standards and high
personal relevance, two factors fueling social comparisons and
envy alike [19]. Indeed, painful social comparison and envy are
among the most often reported stressors [22] and sources of
frustration on Facebook [23].
Most SNS-related studies conceptualize envy or negative social
comparisons as causal factors of depression [24, 25*, 26*]. In-
deed, envy and depression have been linked outside of Facebook
research [27, 28, 29], but the causal relationship is far from clear
[19]. Arguably, the lack of self-esteem [30] and the tendency to
compare themselves negatively with others [31] might make de-
pressed individuals also particularly prone to envy. This should be
kept in mind when drawing conclusions from the studies reviewed
below.
Cross-sectional studies
Cross-sectional evidence demonstrates a positive correlation be-
tween the amount of Facebook use and the frequency of social
comparisons on Facebook [15, 24, 32, 33*]. A similar pattern
emerges for the impression of being inferior [34] and ‘Facebook
envy’ [20*, 23]. Some of these studies [20*, 23, 24, 32] have doc-
umented an association between social comparison or envy and
negative affective outcomes. In three studies, envy and social
comparison, respectively, mediated the relationship between Fa-
cebook use and depression-related outcomes [15, 20*, 23].
Because of the cross-sectional designs, no claims can be made
about causal relations. While it is tacitly assumed that SNS envy
causes depressed mood, the reverse pathway of depression caus-
ing envy is equally plausible [26*]. In addition, the assessment of
both Facebook use and social comparison has mostly relied on
unvalidated, retrospective self-report measures, sometimes
based on only one item [24]. The fact that these measures do not
differentiate between specific Facebook activities and are suscep-
tible to recall biases calls them further into question (e.g. [2,
12**]).
Prospective studies
Prospective studies investigated the predictive value of SNS social
comparison for depression. In a sample of high school students,
the tendency to socially compare oneself in SNSs predicted
changes in depressive symptomatology one year later [25*]. Sim-
ilarly, the tendency to compare oneself unfavorably to others on
Facebook, but not the general habit to socially compare oneself,
predicted depressive symptoms at three weeks follow-up in a
study by Feinstein and colleagues [26*]. In both studies, the re-
verse pathway was not investigated.
2
Diary and experience sampling (ES) studies
Diary studies address several weaknesses associated with retro-
spective self-reports. For example, over a 2-week period Steers
and colleagues [32] asked participants about their daily Facebook
experiences. Any type of social comparison, including favorable
comparison, mediated a positive correlation between frequent
Facebook use and depressed mood. Depression, in contrast, did
not predict Facebook use. However, analyses of correlations were
not lagged. Thus, a causal influence of depression on negative Fa-
cebook comparison is still conceivable, as are other constella-
tions.
In an ES study by Verduyn and colleagues [35**], participants re-
ported their Facebook use, envy, and well-being 5 times per day
for 6 days. Lagged analyses revealed that passive (e.g., viewing
others’ profiles), but not active Facebook use (e.g., posting) pre-
dicted subsequent declines in well-being, which was fully medi-
ated by envy. The results were not influenced by baseline depres-
sion or life-satisfaction and life-satisfaction was unrelated to Face-
book-use. The finding that passive Facebook use predicted
changes in well-being over time while the opposite pathway was
not significant supports a causal chain from passive Facebook use
through envy to depression. However, variables confounded with
Facebook use might still have contributed to the effect. For exam-
ple, people potentially log into Facebook more often when they
are bored [36]. The findings demonstrate that depressiveness is
associated with higher levels of envy, especially when comparison
standards are high.
Experimental studies
Causal relationships between Facebook use, social comparison,
envy, and depression have also been established experimentally.
For example, in a study about women's body image [37], women
instructed to spend ten minutes looking at their Facebook page
rated their mood lower than those looking at control websites.
Furthermore, participants in the Facebook condition who had a
strong tendency to compare their attractiveness to others were
less satisfied with their physical appearance, providing indirect
support for the role of social comparison processes.
Similar results were obtained by Vogel and colleagues [33*].
Mood, self-esteem, and positive self-views of individuals with a
strong social comparison orientation dropped significantly after
briefly looking at a casual friend's Facebook profile compared to
participants seeing their own profile or those visiting a non-social
website. Mediation by social comparison was not tested.
Haferkamp and Krämer [14] found that constructed SNS profiles
representing highly attractive comparison standards caused
worse mood and less satisfaction with one's appearance com-
pared to unattractive standards. Note that social comparison was
not directly measured, yielding only indirect evidence for compar-
ative processes. Moreover, personal relevance, a prerequisite for
social comparison and envy [19], was likely limited because pro-
files were not realistic-looking and featured unfamiliar owners. Fi-
nally, the lack of a neutral control group makes it possible that low
comparison standards led to better outcomes instead of high
standards having a negative impact.
Focusing on self-esteem, Vogel and colleagues [15] presented
constructed SNS profiles depicting comparison targets high or low
in healthiness or popularity, respectively. The results suggested
detrimental effects of being confronted with high standards, but
were not clear-cut. On some measures, participants’ self-
evaluation was lower after seeing the popular compared to the
unpopular target, other measures were affected by the healthi-
ness-manipulation.
Appel and colleagues [38*] also used constructed, but realistic-
looking and gender-matched Facebook profiles. Depressed and
non-depressed participants saw one of two profiles conveying ei-
ther a highly desirable or an undesirable life of the profile owner.
Compared to unattractive profiles, attractive profiles caused par-
ticipants to perceive themselves as inferior and to feel more envy,
with inferiority predicting envy. Depressed participants felt more
inferior and envious than controls, especially in the high standard
condition.
Finally, Verduyn and colleagues [35**] conducted an experiment
explicitly investigating the complete causal chain of Facebook use
on well-being mediated by social comparison. Participants who
browsed their own Facebook feed passively for ten minutes re-
ported lower well-being than those using it actively. To capture
social comparison, participants also rated their quality of life in
comparison to others but no effects were observed here.
Summary of reviewed evidence
In summary, available evidence is largely consistent with the no-
tion that Facebook use encourages unfavorable social compari-
sons and envy, which may in turn lead to depressed mood. How-
ever, although prospective and experience sampling studies as
well as statistical modeling make this causal link plausible, these
findings largely remain subject to the constraints of correlational
data. Experiments have not yet shown the complete causal chain
of Facebook use eliciting depressed mood mediated by unflatter-
ing comparison or envy. Therefore, taking this pathway as a given
may be premature. Note that other mechanisms potentially re-
sponsible for negative mood effects of Facebook use have re-
ceived empirical support, for example, the impression to waste
one's time [3], or communication overload [39]. There is also
some evidence suggesting that favorable social comparison on
SNSs is used to repair negative mood [40*], implying positive ef-
fects of Facebook comparisons.
Methodological considerations
Some methodological suggestions can be derived from this re-
view. Experimental control of SNS content grants internal but not
external validity [40*] given that real-life Facebook use is mainly
about interacting with people one knows [7]. At least, profiles
should look realistic and feature profile owners that participants
can relate to [38*]. When participants use their own Facebook
page instead [35**, 37], idiosyncratic Facebook behavior should
be tracked [35**] which allows coding certain aspects and con-
trolling for them (e.g., cf. [33*, 41, 42]).
One advantage of experimental exposure lies in the immediate
experience of Facebook use and its affective consequences,
thereby avoiding problems associated with retrospective self-re-
ports [3]. However, some effects of Facebook use may not mani-
fest immediately, but require repeated exposure [2, 15], especially
when considering more far-reaching consequences. Here, experi-
ence sampling (ES) may add valuable insights by tracking effects
over time. To minimize recall biases [43], ES studies should cap-
ture activities within a narrow time frame or encourage actual Fa-
cebook use ad-hoc.
Open research questions and conclusions
3
Several open questions remain for future research. As for individ-
ual differences, most studies focused on college populations.
However, younger individuals should be even more likely to en-
gage in or be affected by SNS social comparisons, given their de-
veloping identities [44] and their heavy SNS use [45]. Similarly,
gender differences concerning the links between Facebook usage,
comparison, and well-being have been documented, but in oppo-
site directions [25*, 32]. Other studies did not find gender to mod-
erate this relationship [32, 35**]. Looking at psychopathology, the
evidence for depressiveness predicting Facebook envy is mixed.
Verduyn and colleagues [35**] found that depression scores did
not moderate the relationship between Facebook use and well-
being. However, in the experiment by Appel and colleagues [38*]
depressed participants were more negatively affected by a high
comparison target. Thus, the notion of depression predisposing
individuals to envy needs to be further investigated because it
may help identify a population that is especially vulnerable to the
envy provoking potential of Facebook comparison.
Moreover, the large variety of operationalizations across studies
raises questions. For example, differentiating between passive
and active Facebook behavior is important in predicting envy and
depression [23, 35**]. Consequently, researchers should not limit
observations to global Facebook use. Various measures have also
been used to capture negative affect, ranging from mood shifts
[14, 35**, 37] to more drastic consequences like clinical depres-
sion [20*, 24, 25*]. In a similar vein, social comparison has been
defined inconsistently, sometimes looking at the frequency of
comparisons in general [33*], other times concentrating on neg-
ative comparison and resulting inferiority [32]. This is problematic
because inferiority may be associated with depressed mood by
mere semantical overlap [26*]. Note, however, that even flattering
SNS comparison is correlated with depression [32]. Furthermore,
different comparison dimensions may be more or less impactful
[37]. Conflicting results have been found with regard to the im-
portance of comparison domains (e.g., healthiness vs. popularity
[15], or career success vs. attractiveness [14, 40*]).
Other research may investigate the characteristics of people's so-
cial networks. For example, the total number of friends was either
negatively [23, 34] or not related [20*, 24, 35**] to social compar-
ison, envy, depressed mood, or their association, respectively. De-
sirable correlates of Facebook friend count have also been ob-
served in other contexts [8]. However, a longer friend list usually
entails a high proportion of strangers or distant acquaintances
[46], which predicts negative social comparison outcomes [34,
47], maybe because overly positive self-presentations are less
easily disproved by real-life information [12**].
Valuable insight may also be gained by investigating specific cog-
nitive and affective processes. There is evidence to suggest that
ruminating about negative Facebook experiences enhances its
harmful effects [48, 49, 50]. One study demonstrated a mediating
role of rumination with respect to Facebook social comparison
[26*]. Thus, rumination or worrying should be considered as rel-
evant psychopathological mechanisms involved in social compar-
ison and envy on Facebook [35**].
Furthermore, recent evidence [51, 52] shows that unflattering so-
cial comparisons can elicit two distinct forms of envy. Malicious
envy entails the motivation to harm the envied person and is as-
sociated with resentment, low personal control, and feelings of in-
justice. Even though equally frustrating, benign envy motivates to
keep up with the superior person through effort and is associated
with admiration, not hostility. Disentangling the two may shed light
on the conflicting findings concerning SNS use. For example, given
that lack of control is associated with malicious envy [51] and de-
pression alike [53], depressed individuals may be particularly
prone to malicious rather than benign envy when using SNSs. So-
cial context may also shape envy on Facebook. For example, envy
is modulated by how achievements are presented. Specifically,
hubristic pride (attributing success to talent) results in malicious
envy, whereas authentic pride (attributing success to effort) fos-
ters benign envy [54]. Indeed, Facebook postings of narcissistic
users, which can be assumed to convey hubristic pride [55], elicit
less positive feedback [56], potentially reflecting malicious envy.
The specific relationship to the comparison standard may also de-
termine the kind of envy on Facebook. For example, stronger re-
lational ties increase benign but not malicious envy in response to
a friend's post [57].
A lot remains to be learned about the relationship between envy
and depression in general and on Facebook in particular. Re-
search should not focus on global affective changes depending on
general Facebook use, but on which processes cause which ef-
fects in which populations (e.g. [58]). More rigorous scrutiny of
causal relationships, the differentiation of constructs and their
measurements, and the inclusion of personality and psycho-
pathology moderators are called for to advance our understand-
ing of social comparison, envy, and depression in an SNS environ-
ment.
References and recommended reading
Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:
* of special interest
** of outstanding interest
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Author Note
Helmut Appel, Applied Social Psychology, University of Cologne, Herbert-Lewin-Str. 10, 50931 Cologne, Germany; e-mail: helmut.ap-
pel@uni-koeln.de
Alexander L. Gerlach, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Pohligstr. 1, 50969 Cologne, Germany; e-mail:
alexander.gerlach@uni-koeln.de
Jan Crusius, Social Cognition Center Cologne, University of Cologne, Richard-Strauss-Str. 2, 50931 Cologne, Germany; e-mail: jan.cru-
sius@uni-koeln.de
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Helmut Appel, University of Cologne, Department of Psychology, Ap-
plied Social Psychology, Herbert-Lewin-Str. 10, 50931 Cologne, Germany; e-mail: helmut.appel@uni-koeln.de, tel.: +49 (0)221 470
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