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All my online-friends are better than me – three studies about ability-based comparative social media use, self-esteem, and depressive tendencies

Taylor & Francis
Behaviour & Information Technology
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Abstract

We conducted three studies to assess short-term and long-term effects of social comparative SNS use on self-esteem and depressive tendencies. In Study 1 (N = 75) we found in an exposure experiment including two experimental groups and one control group that social comparative internet use decreased participants’ performance-oriented state self-esteem as a short-term effect. In Study 2 and 3 (Ns = 809, 145) results of the serial multiple mediator model indicated that passive Facebook use is associated with higher depressive tendencies mediated by a higher ability-related social comparison orientation and lower self-esteem as long-term effect. To obtain more generalisable findings, we transferred the serial multiple mediator model successfully from private to professional SNS use (Study 3).

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... Like many other popular SNSs (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), people can easily post information (e.g., update status, post pictures, share contents) and interact with others (e.g., comment, "like", or directly chat) on WeChat, which help them make self-disclosure and manage their self-image [21]. At the same time, this virtual environment may have the potential to promote social comparison, imitation, jealousy, and other negative outcomes such as anxiety, depression and lower self-evaluation [22][23][24][25][26][27]. ...
... For example, compared with active SNS use (e.g., posting status), passive SNS use (e.g., lurking on others' pages) was found undermined user's affective well-being through heightened envy [29]. Ozimek and Bierhoff [24] also found that passive Facebook use was associated with lower self-esteem and higher depressive tendencies, and these associations were mediated by higher social comparison orientation. ...
... Despite SOS-T has been proposed mainly for explaining why people use SNSs [31,32], it also indicates that this kind of self-regulation strategy can be actually dysfunctional and bring unhappiness, for example, frequent SNS use was found correlated with negative outcomes such as lower self-esteem and higher depressive tendencies [22,24]. Next, we specify how SNS use may link to materialistic values through self-control. ...
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Background While prior studies have established a close association between the use of social network sites (SNSs) and materialistic values, there is limited understanding of the mediating and moderating mechanisms related to important self-related processes, such as self-control and self-acceptance. This paper explores whether and how these factors play a role in comprehending online behavior. One could state that frequent SNS use may pose a risk of virtual addiction, may be related to decreased self-control capacity, and may increase attention to material information on SNS, thereby making it more likely that users affiliate with behaviors associated with materialistic values. In contrast, self-acceptance, as a stable self-process indicating a genuine alignment with one’s true self and the ability to make decisions based on inner needs, may be related with reduced engagement in complex information on SNSs. Consequently, this could serve as a buffer against excessive SNS use and its potential associations with issues of self-control and materialistic values. Methods A total of 706 Chinese college students were surveyed in a cross-sectional study. They completed self-report questionnaires including the WeChat use intensity scale, the Material Value Scale, the Trait Self-control Scale, and the Self-acceptance Questionnaire. A moderated mediation model was examined to test predictions. Results SNS use intensity was positively associated with materialistic values, and self-control partially mediated this association. That is, higher intensity SNS users are more likely lower in self-control, which relates to stronger materialistic values. In addition, the indirect effect through self-control was moderated by self-acceptance, such that this indirect effect was significant only for individuals with low levels of self-acceptance. Conclusions This study reveals that self-acceptance may be a protective factor that helps to mitigate excessive SNS use and its potential effects on self-control and materialistic values. It further suggests that psychological interventions targeting the enhancement of self-acceptance and self-control could hold promise in alleviating the negative association between SNS use and materialistic values.
... The impact of these platforms on well-being is further highlighted by a poignant blog titled, "I scroll for 1 hour, feel anxious about myself for 1 week" (Iyer, 2021). In a similar vein, Xing usage has been linked to depressive feelings (Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020). Despite some recent scholarly attention, negative well-being effects of professional SNSs have been relatively overlooked. ...
... It is this internal discrepancy that is proposed to trigger negative emotional effects (Tewfik, 2022). Building on this idea, imposter thoughts may shed light on 'why' negative emotions arise from professional SNS usage (Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020;Wang et al., 2023). Consequently, sociocognitive imposter theory presents a potential alternative explanation for the negative well-being effects associated with professional SNS usage. ...
... Table 1 outlines, to the best of our knowledge, the only three studies that associate either anxiety or depressive feelings with professional SNS usage, such as LinkedIn and Xing. Two of these studies support the idea that professional SNSs can induce depression and anxiety through social comparison, similar to general SNSs (Jones et al., 2016;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020). ...
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We attend to the unexamined intersection between professional social network site (SNS) usage and imposter syndrome. Specifically, we provide the first examination of: do such sites cause imposter thoughts ("others think I am more competent than I think I am"); if so, why and when this happens, and what effect this has on well-being and consumption-related results. Supported by objective self-focused attention theory and two online experiments, we show that professional SNS usage heightens professional self-focused attention, triggering imposter thoughts. This results in negative emotions and consumption-related effects. We further examine two boundary conditions, showing that effects are reduced for individuals high in narcissism or work centrality. From these findings, we extend the sociocognitive theorization of the imposter phenomenon by uncovering, first, context-specific self-focused attention as the reason "why" people feel imposter-ish in particular circumstances and second, consumption-related consequences. We further contribute imposter thoughts as a new alternative explanation for negative emotions experienced whilst using professional SNSs. K E Y W O R D S compensatory consumption, imposter phenomenon, imposter syndrome, LinkedIn, objective self-focused attention, social network sites, well-being
... In the development of social media research, a large number of studies have proven that social media use can promote individuals' social comparison of ability (e.g. Lee 2014; Ozimek and Bierhoff 2020;Yue, Zhang, and Xiao 2022). Ability-based social comparison refers to the behavioural process in which individuals compare with others in terms of ability (Festinger 1954). ...
... Therefore, numerous studies recently have found that social media users tend to compare themselves with superior others (e.g. Huang and Fan 2022;Ozimek and Bierhoff 2020), which brings negative outcomes by dampening their selfesteem (Midgley et al. 2021;Ozimek and Bierhoff 2020), increasing anxiety and depression (Lee 2014;Ozimek and Bierhoff 2020;Midgley et al. 2021), and reducing prosocial behaviours (Moyal, Motsenok, and Ritov 2020). ...
... Therefore, numerous studies recently have found that social media users tend to compare themselves with superior others (e.g. Huang and Fan 2022;Ozimek and Bierhoff 2020), which brings negative outcomes by dampening their selfesteem (Midgley et al. 2021;Ozimek and Bierhoff 2020), increasing anxiety and depression (Lee 2014;Ozimek and Bierhoff 2020;Midgley et al. 2021), and reducing prosocial behaviours (Moyal, Motsenok, and Ritov 2020). ...
... Number of descriptive studies 4 (Frison and Eggermont, 2020), active public Facebook use Eggermont, 2016a, 2020), browsing own Facebook newsfeed (Alfasi, 2019), compare/impress as motive for false self-presentation on Facebook (Michikyan et al., 2015), daily Facebook use (Brailovskaia et al., 2019b), deception as motive for false self-presentation on Facebook (Michikyan et al., 2015), Facebook account length (Hussain et al., 2019), Facebook addiction (Koc and Gulyagci, 2013;Hong et al., 2014;Zaffar et al., 2015;Brailovskaia and Margraf, 2017;Khattak et al., 2017;da Veiga et al., 2019;Damota, 2019;Foroughi et al., 2019;Kulkarni and Deshpande, 2019;Sotero et al., 2019;Brailovskaia et al., 2019b,d;Bais and Reyes, 2020;Eşkisu et al., 2020;Iovu et al., 2020;Rachubińska et al., 2021;Verseillié et al., 2021;Ho, 2021a;Atroszko et al., 2022), Facebook intensity (Iovu et al., 2020;Ahamed et al., 2021;Nazzal et al., 2021), Facebook intrusion (Bendayan and Blanca Mena, 2019;Przepiórka and Błachnio, 2020;Cudo et al., 2020a), Facebook surveillance (Scherr et al., 2019), frequency of Facebook use (Kang et al., 2013;Brailovskaia et al., 2019b), general Facebook use (Rosen et al., 2013a;Brailovskaia and Margraf, 2016;Vannucci et al., 2019;Brailovskaia et al., 2019a;Tandoc Jr. and Goh, 2023), ideal self-presentation on Facebook (Michikyan et al., 2015), impression management as motive for using Facebook (Rosen et al., 2013a), inspection time of social updates on Facebook (Hussain et al., 2019), interpersonal motives for using Facebook , liking behavior on Facebook (Wright et al., 2018), more frequent in-person social interaction on Facebook (Teo et al., 2019), number of accumulated points in Facebook , number of accumulated tips in Facebook , number of Facebook friends (Rosen et al., 2013a;Nazzal et al., 2021), passive Facebook use Eggermont, 2016a, 2020;Dibb and Foster, 2021), perceived attraction to online social support on Facebook (Giota and Kleftaras, 2013), perceived content production on Facebook (Shaw et al., 2015), perceived downward social comparison on Facebook (Steers et al., 2014), perceived downward-identification in social comparison on Facebook (Kang et al., 2013), perceived emotional engagement with Facebook (Verseillié et al., 2021), perceived emotional support on Facebook (McCloskey et al., 2015), perceived frequency of having a negative feeling from social comparison on Facebook (Lee, 2014), perceived frequency of social comparison on Facebook (Lee, 2014), perceived level of activity on Facebook (Michikyan et al., 2015), perceived level of watching on Facebook (Ozimek and Bierhoff, 2020), perceived negative social support on Facebook (McCloskey et al., 2015), perceived non-directional social comparison on Facebook (Steers et al., 2014), perceived non-directional social comparison on Facebook by male (Steers et al., 2014), perceived online physical appearance comparison (Walker et al., 2015), perceived social comparison direction on ...
... Facebook (Michikyan et al., 2015), strategic digital skills on Facebook ( Facebook (Cingel and Olsen, 2018), perceived appearance self-esteem state (Ozimek et al., 2021), perceived frequency of commenting on statuses on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived frequency of posting on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013;Ye et al., 2021), perceived frequency of posting YouTube clips on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived frequency of putting a lot of thought into one posts on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived frequency of tagging people in statuses on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived frequency of updating Facebook status (Eşkisu et al., 2017), perceived level of acting on Facebook (Ozimek and Bierhoff, 2020;Ozimek et al., 2021), perceived level of activity on Facebook (Michikyan et al., 2015), perceived level of awareness when using Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived level of clicking "like" on photos on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived level of Facebook dependency (Lee et al., 2012), perceived level of feeling judged by what one posts on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived level of free expression on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived level of networking on ...
... Further examples of negative effects on perceived self-esteem include compensatory Facebook use (Goljović, 2017), Facebook fatigue (Cramer et al., 2016), Facebook intrusion Przepiórka et al., 2021), perceived feeling of connectedness to Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived frequency of untagging oneself from in photos on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), perceived level of Facebook integration into daily activities (Faraon and Kaipainen, 2014), perceived negative activities on Facebook (Tazghini and Siedlecki, 2013), problematic Facebook use (Tobin and Graham, 2020;Primi et al., 2021), risky and impulsive Facebook use (Flynn et al., 2018), time spent on Facebook (Faraon and Kaipainen, 2014;Hanna et al., 2017;Bergagna and Tartaglia, 2018), and use of Facebook for simulation (Bergagna and Tartaglia, 2018). Research also suggests that browsing own Facebook newsfeed (Alfasi, 2019), passive Facebook use (Hanna et al., 2017), and use of Facebook for social comparison (Ozimek and Bierhoff, 2020) are associated with lower perceived self-esteem. ...
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Social networking sites (SNS), with Facebook as a prominent example, have become an integral part of our daily lives and more than four billion people worldwide use SNS. However, the (over-)use of SNS also poses both psychological and physiological risks. In the present article, we review the scientific literature on the risk of Facebook (over-)use. Addressing this topic is critical because evidence indicates the development of problematic Facebook use (“Facebook addiction”) due to excessive and uncontrolled use behavior with various psychological and physiological effects. We conducted a review to examine the scope, range, and nature of prior empirical research on the negative psychological and physiological effects of Facebook use. Our literature search process revealed a total of 232 papers showing that Facebook use is associated with eight major psychological effects (perceived anxiety, perceived depression, perceived loneliness, perceived eating disorders, perceived self-esteem, perceived life satisfaction, perceived insomnia, and perceived stress) and three physiological effects (physiological stress, human brain alteration, and affective experience state). The review also describes how Facebook use is associated with these effects and provides additional details on the reviewed literature, including research design, sample, age, and measures. Please note that the term “Facebook use” represents an umbrella term in the present work, and in the respective sections it will be made clear what kind of Facebook use is associated with a myriad of investigated psychological variables. Overall, findings indicate that certain kinds of Facebook use may come along with significant risks, both psychologically and physiologically. Based on our review, we also identify potential avenues for future research.
... This theory has been extensively supported by existing empirical evidence. For example, recent research found that increased Facebook engagement was associated with increased social comparisons (Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020), and that women feel that they compare themselves more to others when using social media (Monks et al., 2021). Social comparisons were also found to moderate the positive relationship from frequency of women's Instagram engagement to physical appearance anxiety and body dissatisfaction (Sherlock & Wagstaff, 2018). ...
... While there are limited studies exploring the direct link between social media engagement and cosmetic surgery for men, there has been research which explores the effect of social media on variables associated with cosmetic surgery interest. These studies suggest that men's social media engagement positively predicts known cosmetic surgery correlates such as disordered eating, psychiatric issues, and body dissatisfaction (Abbas & Karadavut, 2017;Afsar, 2013;Chung et al., 2021;de Calheiros Velozo & Stauder, 2018;Lonergan et al., 2020;Lutzow et al., 2021;Mahon & Hevey, 2021;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020;Rambaree et al., 2020;Seidler et al., 2022;Walker et al., 2021). In sum, existing literature suggests that social media engagement is likely tied to their interest in cosmetic surgery. ...
... Self-esteem has been established as a predictive factor for engagement in cosmetic surgery, such that women with lower self-esteem are drawn to surgery (al Ghadeer et al., 2021;Yoon & Kim, 2020). Similarly, preliminary research has reported a relationship between self-esteem social media engagement in mixed-gender samples (Doğan & Çolak, 2016;Nisar et al., 2019;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020), such that those lower in self-esteem are drawn to passive social media engagement while those with higher self-esteem are more likely to be active social media users. Those with higher self-esteem may be more confident posting on social media and engaging with others content, while also being less likely to experience poor body image. ...
Article
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Men’s cosmetic surgery rates are increasing globally. Existing literature suggests that social media engagement encourages women to undergo cosmetic surgery, yet the relationship between social media and cosmetic surgery for men remains underexamined. The aim of this study was therefore to explore if social media engagement impacted men’s interest in undergoing cosmetic surgery. Using an adapted version of the Passive and Active Use Measure to assess social media engagement, the relationship between social media engagement and cosmetic surgery consideration was explored. Among 311 American adult men (Mage = 37.7), passive social media engagement (e.g., viewing photos, browsing profiles) was found to have a small positive relationship with consideration of cosmetic surgery (p < .05, 95% CI [0.12, 0.49]). Conversely, Active Non-social media engagement (e.g., posting videos, tagging) and Active Social media engagement (e.g., posting statuses, commenting) did not predict cosmetic surgery consideration. These results demonstrate that the ways in which men use social media (rather than whether or not they use social media in general) determines their interest in cosmetic surgery. While social media engagement is a known correlate for appearance dissatisfaction in women, this study provides evidence that social media engagement is potentially also harmful to men’s body image. This preliminary research may contribute to informing best clinical practice for men experiencing body dissatisfaction. Namely, reducing passive social media use may alleviate men’s likelihood of pursing cosmetic surgery, in turn reducing their exposure to the physical and psychological risks associated with undergoing cosmetic surgery.
... People tend to be active or passive in social comparison in social media use. This is where people compare themselves (how they look and perceive "better lives" of those they see on social media themselves) and envy and depressive tendencies (wishing to possess the material and status of others) [12,21,22]. ...
... (a) The problematic use of smartphones increased attention seeking and heightened sensitivity (e.g., [29,30]) (b) When little or absence of peer endorsement on social media (in the form of "likes," "following," etc.) induces a sense of worthlessness (e.g., [31][32][33]) (c) The measurement of achievement by those they see online consequently experiencing depressive tendencies avoiding reality (e.g., [22,34]) ...
... A major limitation of the studies listed above was that they all used Beck Depression Inventory to measure depression related to social media use. Also, they referred to the depression experienced by social media users as depressive tendencies (e.g., [22]). This inference could also mean that the depressive tendency of the individuals might be responsible for their unhealthy social media use. ...
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Social media use has been linked to adverse health outcomes such as depression. To facilitate interventions, understanding the varied causes of depression is necessary. The authors developed a social media-induced depression tendency (SMIDT) scale for use with young people and aimed to validate it for young people in Nigeria. The study was conducted in three parts using an online survey (Google Forms) with purposive sampling targeting young people. Study 1 was an exploratory study that developed the SMIDT scale with 361 young people aged 16 to 26 years (mean age = 22:81). A concise measure of SMIDT was obtained. In study 2, confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the SMIDT with young people aged 17 to 25 years (mean age = 23:61). Construct, discriminant, and concurrent validities were established, and three factors were identified (sensitivity/attention seeking, worthlessness, and escapism/reality avoidance), which explained 55.87% of the variance. Study 3 tested the predictive validity of the scale. The results showed that the 15-item SMIDT scale had high internal consistency and satisfactory validity. The SMIDT scale can enable the assessment of factors associated with social media-induced depression tendency. The three factors identified in the scale provide insight into the factors contributing to depression associated with social media use. The SMIDT scale has the potential to help identify at-risk individuals and in-developing interventions to prevent or reduce social media-induced depression tendencies. However, this study only focused on young people in Nigeria. Additional studies using the SMIDT scale are required to assess its generalizability and applicability in evaluating other factors, such as quality of life among young people. Moreover, while social media use has been associated with adverse health outcomes, it is crucial to recognize that it can also positively affect mental health. Further research is necessary to explore the complex relationships between social media use and mental health outcomes.
... Researchers (e.g., Chou & Edge, 2012;Feinstein et al., 2013;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020) have suggested social comparison is a major influence among young adults experiencing depression and many young adults make these comparisons using social media platforms. Social comparison consists of the notion where people feel inadequate as a result of comparing themselves to others they perceive as being more successful than themselves (Feinstein et al., 2013). ...
... Social comparison consists of the notion where people feel inadequate as a result of comparing themselves to others they perceive as being more successful than themselves (Feinstein et al., 2013). Research also suggests SMU involves upward comparisons with others which often results in low self-esteem (Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020). Chou and Edge studied the impact of using Facebook and young adults' perceptions of their Facebook friends' posts, finding those who had used Facebook longer (i.e., an average of 4.83 hours each week) had stronger beliefs that others were happier than they were and agreed their peers' lives were "fairer" than their lives. ...
... Thus, young adults with high social comparison due to heavy SMU will continue to use social media despite negative consequences (Vogel et al., 2015). As researchers (e.g., Chou & Edge, 2012;Feinstein et al., 2013;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020) have noted, heavy SMU is linked to depression and other mental health issues among young adults and warrants understanding of appropriate, evidence-based psychotherapeutic approaches for identifying and treating these individuals. ...
Article
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Social media platforms represent a primary form of communication among people of all ages, with young adults being the leading users of social media. While social media use (SMU) has many benefits, there are numerous studies that show excessive SMU is correlated with high rates of depression. There is extensive research on the effects of SMU among adolescents; however, there are limited studies that address the effects of SMU among young adults. We reviewed the counseling literature from 2010 to 2020 to identify studies pertaining to SMU and depression among young adults and identified effective, evidence-based psychotherapeutic approaches for treating depression among young adults who are heavy social media users. Rehabilitation counseling implications and recommendations are addressed provided based on our findings.
... Depression tendency is the beginning of depression, exhibiting certain symptoms of depression but not yet meeting the diagnostic requirements for depression [3,4]. To investigate the role of social skills in depression among college students through the mediation of loneliness, Fauziyyah and Ampuni [5] and Ozimek and Bierhoff [6] used the Social Skills Scale to measure social skills and the Beck Depression Scale II to measure depression and conducted regression analysis using a simple mediation model [5,6]. Zhengjie et al. believed that depression was one of the most common mental illnesses in the world. ...
... Depression tendency is the beginning of depression, exhibiting certain symptoms of depression but not yet meeting the diagnostic requirements for depression [3,4]. To investigate the role of social skills in depression among college students through the mediation of loneliness, Fauziyyah and Ampuni [5] and Ozimek and Bierhoff [6] used the Social Skills Scale to measure social skills and the Beck Depression Scale II to measure depression and conducted regression analysis using a simple mediation model [5,6]. Zhengjie et al. believed that depression was one of the most common mental illnesses in the world. ...
Article
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In response to the existing problems in the prediction accuracy, data collection, real-time monitoring, and consideration of factors leading to depression in the current mechanism for predicting depression among college students, this article used computer intelligent systems to study the prediction mechanism of depression among college students. This article conducted a survey on students at University A using a survey questionnaire to understand the main reasons that affect their tendency to develop depression. It processed and analyzed the data using the Beck Depression Scale and Statistical Product and Service Solution 21.0 (SPSS 21.0). Meanwhile, natural language processing techniques in computer intelligence systems can be utilized. This article combines emotional dictionaries and word frequency-inverse document frequency to construct a prediction mechanism model for depression tendencies among college students, improving the accuracy of predicting student depression tendencies. The experiment shows that the average accuracy of the depression tendency prediction mechanism model constructed based on Natural Language Processing technology after 50 experiments was 97.02%, which was 5.33% higher than the model constructed based on neural network calculations. Overall, research on the prediction mechanism of depression tendency among college students based on computer intelligence systems can provide more effective mental health support and intervention measures for schools, helping students improve their psychological state, academic achievement, and quality of life.
... Conversely, opinion comparison involves evaluating opinions and ideas, focusing on the opinions and feelings an individual should adopt. Ability comparison is grounded in a competitive mindset, while this might not be the case for opinion comparison (Ozimek and Bierhoff, 2020;Liu et al., 2021). ...
... Between the two factors, only ability comparison is associated with negative emotions such as depression, envy (Park and Baek, 2018), risk-taking (Liu et al., 2021), low self-esteem (Ozimek and Bierhoff, 2020), and social maladjustment (Miao et al., 2018). The two factors of social comparison orientation could exhibit different and unique relationships with other variables and need to be examined separately (Gerson et al., 2017). ...
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Introduction Social comparison orientation comprises ability comparison, which entails superior and inferior ratings; and opinion comparison, which does not include such ratings. Previous research on negative emotions and the social rank theory of social anxiety indicates that social anxiety is positively associated with ability comparison. This is particularly true of individuals with a stronger sense of inferiority (e.g., lower self-evaluation of their social skills). Nevertheless, the relationship between the two aspects of social comparison orientation and social anxiety remains unclear. Methods Two hundred thirty-eight individuals (Mage = 40.53 ± 9.78 years, 50.4% men) participated in an online cross-sectional survey questionnaire. Results Social anxiety was positively correlated with ability comparison but not opinion comparison. The relationship between social anxiety in situations observed by others and ability comparison was stronger for individuals with lower (vs. higher) self-rated social skills. Discussion This study showed that the two types of social comparison are differentially related to social anxiety. The findings support the social rank theory of social anxiety, which states that social comparisons involving superior and inferior ratings lead to social anxiety owing to the perception of one’s inferiority. Making such social comparisons can result in heightened social anxiety, particularly for individuals with low self-evaluations of social skills. The results indicate the importance of these social comparisons in the emergence and persistence of social anxiety. Furthermore, the potential of interventions based on mindfulness, compassion, social media, and video feedback in mitigating the negative effects of such social comparisons is discussed.
... Self-esteem is defined as the affectiveevaluative facet of the self. 10 In an effort to enhance self-esteem, social media users promote a positive selfpresentation online to help them build meaningful connections with family members, friends, and strangers. 11 Social identity theory conceptualizes social identity as a person's knowledge of belonging to an in-group, and that this belonging influences one's sense of self. ...
... Options were set to remove an item if it did not load 0.32 on a factor or if it demonstrated a cross-loading of <0. 10. Results of an EFA suggested a one-factor solution with all six loadings on factor 1 with the loadings ranging from 0.34 to 0.80 (see Appendix Table A1 for items and factor loadings). ...
Article
Fake news is on the rise on many social media platforms. The proliferation of fake news is concerning, yet little is known about the characteristics that may motivate social media users to denounce (or ignore) fake news when they see it posted by strangers, close friends, and family members. Active social media users (N = 218) completed an online survey examining psychological characteristics (i.e., misinformation correction importance, self-esteem) and communicative characteristics (i.e., argumentativeness, conflict style) that may relate to an individual's willingness to denounce fake news posted by either strangers or close friends/family members. Participants examined several manipulated fake news scenarios differing in political alignment and relevant topic content within a Facebook news article format. Results indicated that misinformation correction importance was positively related to willingness to denounce in the context of close friends and family, but not with strangers. Moreover, participants with higher self-esteem were less likely to denounce fake news posted by strangers (but not posted by close friends and family), which suggests that confident individuals prefer to avoid challenging people outside of their close ties. Argumentativeness was positively related to willingness to denounce fake news in all scenarios no matter the user's relationship to the fake news poster. Results for conflict styles were mixed. These findings provide preliminary evidence for how psychological, communicative, and relationship characteristics relate to social media users' decision to denounce (or ignore) fake news posted on a social media platform.
... Analogous contrast effects have been found in a field study in which a moderately attractive woman was evaluated less positively following exposure to highly attractive actresses [5,6]. In addition, social comparisons on social media are likely to impair self-esteem [7]. ...
... Finally, the construct validity of the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale was examined. In accordance with results by [7,67] indicating that social comparison orientation is positively associated with Facebook activity it was assumed that the PACS is positively linked with Instagram activity substituting comparison orientation by the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale and Facebook activity by Instagram activity. Note that comparison orientation and PACS both represent individual-difference measures of the readiness to perform social comparisons and that the Instagram activity questionnaire was developed analogously with the Facebook activity questionnaire. ...
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Background As photo editing behavior to enhance one?s appearance in photos becomes more and more prevalent on social network sites (SNSs), potential risks are increasingly discussed as well. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between photo editing behavior, self-objectification, physical appearance comparisons, self-perceived attractiveness, and self-esteem. Methods 403 participants completed self-report questionnaires measuring the aformentioned constructs. A parallel-sequential multiple mediation model was conducted to examine the relationship between photo editing behavior and self-esteem considering multiple mediators. Results The results indicate that photo editing behavior is negatively related to self-perceived attractiveness and self-esteem mediated via self-objectification and physical appearance comparisons. Conclusions The postulated mediation model was justified by our data. Thus, SNS users should be aware of potential negative consequences when using photo editing applications or filters.
... Other studies have taken a more fine-grained approach and decomposed social networking sites usage into active and passive usage types [14][15][16][17]. Active usage encompasses activities that foster interactions with other users and is assumed to enhance mental health. ...
... Overall, our findings fit well into the vulnerability model of neuroticism [91,92] which argues that higher levels of neuroticism presents an important risk factor for developing common mental health disorders. Moreover, our results complement the SOS-T model [53] which posits that especially users with emotion regulation difficulties are prone to resort to dysfunctional self-regulation via social networking sites [16]. Here, we again clarify the specific subset of users for whom self-regulation on social networking sites is associated with detriments. ...
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Background Research on the relationship between Facebook use intensity and depressive symptoms has resulted in mixed findings. In contrast, problematic Facebook use has been found to be a robust predictor of depressive symptoms. This suggests that when intense Facebook use results in a problematic usage pattern, it may indirectly predict depressive symptoms. However, this mediation pathway has never been examined. Moreover, it remains unclear whether the possible indirect relationship between Facebook use intensity and depressive symptoms through problematic Facebook use is moderated by demographic (age), and personality (neuroticism and extraversion) characteristics. Methods To address these gaps, we conducted an online cross-sectional study ( n = 210, 55% female, age range: 18–70 years old, M age = 30.26, SD = 12.25). We measured Facebook use intensity (Facebook Intensity Scale), problematic Facebook use (Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale), depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised), and neuroticism and extraversion (Ten Item Personality Inventory). Results A mediation analysis revealed that problematic Facebook use fully mediates the relationship between Facebook use intensity and depressive symptoms. Moreover, a moderated mediation analysis demonstrated that this indirect relationship is especially strong among young users and users scoring high on neuroticism. Conclusions These findings expand our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between Facebook use intensity and depressive symptoms and describe user characteristics that act as vulnerability factors in this relationship.
... Recent studies have incorporated the concept into social media, where it manifests as a bigger problem given the elusive features. Issues arise when it creates the impression that others are doing better than them and hypothesises it to one having a negative perception of themselves (Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2019). ...
... Self-esteem is defined as an overall evaluation by an individual of themselves in respecting and considering themselves worthy (Rosenberg, 1965). It refers to one's subjective summary about oneself based on the ideal individual one wants to become, how that ideal is achieved, and the missed opportunities (Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2019). ...
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This study investigates the relationship between Instagram usage, social comparison, and self-esteem among young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is given the prevalence of virtual socialization due to remote learning. A survey participated by 200 young adults studying in Malaysian universities was carried out. Results demonstrated active engagement on Instagram. However, the direct relationships between Instagram usage, social comparison, and self-esteem were inconsequential. Hence, no significant differences between those using Instagram frequently and those who did not were found. Yet, the study observed considerably low self-esteem among the respondents and an active tendency to make social comparisons while using Instagram during the social restriction period caused by the pandemic.
... This relativized the previously often found and recently criticized positive effect of active SMU on well-being (Verduyn et al., 2017;Valkenburg et al., 2022). Our research thus joins a series of many papers that clearly foreground the disadvantages of use (cf., Appel et al., 2016;Brailovskaia et al., 2020a, b, c;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2019;Verduyn et al., 2015Verduyn et al., , 2017. It shows that the risks of using social media seem to outweigh the opportunities that arise from it. ...
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Fear of Missing Out is a focus of research in social sciences, especially with respect to social media use. This study examined the extent to which social media use (active and passive, respectively) elicits Fear of Missing Out due to greater perceived bridging and bonding social. In addition, the extent to which Fear of Missing Out affects feelings of stress and life satisfaction was investigated. In an online survey 1230 participants were included. Within the framework of a path model, the assumption of an indirect effect of both active and passive social media use via social capital, Fear of Missing Out, and stress on life satisfaction was confirmed. Finally, further study results as well as implications and limitations of this research are discussed.
... Differently, the passive SNS use had mechanisms that promoted vicarious satisfaction and feelings of relative deprivation: the first with positive effects on SWB and the second with negative influence. Ozimek and Bierhoff (2020) related the use of SNSs with lower self-esteem in part caused by upward comparisons, as SNS users frequently emphasize positive traits and experiences. A potential outcome of lower selfesteem was the enhancement of depressive symptoms, especially among passive users. ...
Article
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The great Brazilian recession was the most marked drop in economic activity in Brazil between the end of the Second World War and the Covid-19 pandemics. This economic crisis may have long lasting and non-anticipated negative consequences on Food Insecurity (FI) and on Subjective Well-Being (SWB). In addition, SWB is increasing linked to the use of Social Networking Services (SNS). The paper used data from World Value Survey (WVS) and logistic and ordered logistic models to empirically test a few hypotheses. The empirical results showed that: FI is negatively correlated with life satisfaction, but not with happiness; FI is unrelated to SNS use as still few people use them and the population groups that suffer from FI insecurity poorly overlap with the one that use SNS daily; SWB had positive relationships with SNS when the use was not very widespread; Associations between SWB and SNS use became negative as SNS use became more widespread.
... (Djamahar et al., 2020) found that there was a significant negative relationship between self-esteem and depression, anxiety, and stress emotions. (Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020) indicated that passive Facebook use was associated with higher depressive tendencies that were mediated by high social comparison and low self-esteem in the long-term effects. (Zeigler et al., 2018) showed that whereas self-esteem was adversely related to both benign and malicious envy, self-esteem instability was positively related to benign envy. ...
Thesis
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The Effect of Upward Social Comparison on Behavioral Intentions Towards Social Media Influencers in Egypt: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem and Emotions
... However, there are studies that show that the causal direction flows in the other direction. Ozimek and Bierhoff (2020), for instance, exposed some subjects but not others to Facebook, with the subjects exposed to Facebook reporting lower self-esteem post exposure. Vogel et al. (2014) found similar results. ...
Chapter
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In this chapter, we offer a review of the empirical findings that animate our concerns about the effects of mobile devices on individuals (the troublesome findings about the effects of mobile devices on collectives is reviewed in Chap. 7 ). We begin by clarifying what we mean by mobile devices, noting that these devices are not our only concern. We also explain why they are our primary concern. In short, we are especially concerned by mobile devices because their mobility, combined with their ability to track our behavior and provide real-time feedback to it, make them powerful behavior modification devices. After explaining how mobile devices can modify our behavior and why—given the structure of the attention economy—the interests of the developers of these technologies are not always in alignment with our own, we show that there is reason to think that mobile devices have detrimental effects on all eight facets of autonomy outlined in the preceding chapter.
... Information on social media is often meticulously curated, easily leading to psychological distress among college students who engage in upward social comparisons. This, in turn, damages their self-esteem [44] and triggers negative emotions such as jealousy, anxiety, and depression. Within the context of information overload, individuals tend to present an optimistic and idealized version of themselves on social platforms, with information often being exaggerated and ostentatious. ...
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Background: The rapid expansion of social media has given rise to a myriad of challenges among college students facing psychological distress. An abundance of fragmented and repetitive information, often referred to as information overload, inundates users on social media platforms. This inundation presents significant hurdles for college students experiencing psychological distress when acquiring and processing information. This study investigates the associative mechanisms between information overload in the context of social media and information avoidance behaviors among college students experiencing psychological distress. Methods: From May to November 2023, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 college students experiencing psychological distress in a prefecture-level city in Henan Province, China, to collect textual data. Grounded theory was employed to conduct three-level coding of the 30 sets of textual data. Special emphasis was placed on analyzing the process of perceiving social media information overload. Subsequently, this analysis served as the foundation for constructing a factor model influencing information avoidance behaviors among college students experiencing psychological distress. Results: The study findings indicate that, within the context of social media, college students experiencing psychological distress are prone to prolonged exposure to information overload, leading to the development of negative emotions such as anxiety and fatigue, subsequently resulting in dissatisfaction with social media. In order to alleviate these negative emotions, they employ information avoidance strategies. These strategies evolve from initially skipping or skimming information to eventually directly avoiding or even discontinuing the use of specific social media platforms. This process is not only closely linked to negative emotions but is also influenced by negative cognitive tendencies. Coupled with the role of virtual social satisfaction and social scarcity, it easily triggers social comparisons and the fear of missing out, resulting in a cyclic impact. Conclusions: Within the context of social media, information overload and information avoidance behaviors among college students experiencing psychological distress are subject to a cyclic influence stemming from negative emotions, negative cognitive tendencies, virtual social satisfaction and social scarcity, social comparisons, and the fear of missing out. This study explores the mechanisms underlying the impact of information overload and information avoidance behaviors among college students experiencing psychological distress within the context of social media. It offers valuable insights for the prevention and intervention of psychological crises among college students.
... There has been limited research on the cumulative effects of social comparison processes across extended time periods. Research on social media has shown that upward comparisons on social media can be inspiring in the short-term (Meier et al., 2020;Meier & Schäfer, 2018), but frequent comparisons with better-off others influence the self negatively in the short-and long-term (Midgley et al., 2021;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020). Relationship research revealed that couples who made multiple upward comparisons reported less relationship satisfaction both 1 week and 6 months later (Thai et al., 2022). ...
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In a preregistered ecological momentary intervention study, we alternately instructed participants to adopt an upward and downward comparison focus. In all, 349 participants reported 8,137 social comparison situations across 6 days and three comparison conditions (baseline, upward, downward). For each comparison, participants reported social comparison direction, motivation, effort intentions, and emotions in five daily reports and one daily end-of-day summary. As predicted, an upward comparison focus resulted in more self-improvement motivation (pushing) and more negative emotions, whereas days with a downward comparison focus resulted in decreased motivation (coasting) but more positive emotions (vs. baseline). However, at the end of the day, people experienced lower goal approach on upward but higher goal approach on downward comparison days. Hence, engaging in strategic upward comparison was motivating in the short term but resulted in surprisingly opposite effects at the end of the day. We offer possible explanations from cognitive and motivational perspectives.
... The results of this study confirm research findings of Ozimek and Bierhoff (2020) who in three investigations observed decreased self-esteem and higher depressive tendencies as a consequence of socially comparative activities on SNSs. Furthermore, the authors revealed a systematic association of passive SNSs use with higher depressive tendencies, mediated by higher ability-related comparison orientation and lower self-esteem. ...
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Social networks are experiencing great popularity, with Instagram currently being the most intensively used network. On these platforms, users are continuously exposed to self-relevant information that fosters social comparisons. A distinction is made between ability-based and opinion-based comparison dimensions. To experimentally investigate the influence of these comparison dimensions on users' subjective well-being, an online exposition experiment (N = 409) was conducted. In a preliminary study (N = 107), adequate exposition stimulus material was selected in advance. The results of the main study indicated that exposition of ability-related social comparisons in the context of social media elicited lower well-being than exposition of opinion-related social comparisons. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed and suggestions for future work were outlined.
... Research has shown that individuals with a higher social comparison orientation are more likely to engage in upward social comparisons on social media, comparing themselves to others who are perceived as better off [33]. This tendency to compare oneself to others and seek social validation through online interactions aligns with the motivations that can drive addictive social media use [34]. The constant exposure to idealized representations of coolness on social media can intensify the desire to compare oneself to these images and seek validation from others, potentially leading to addictive behaviors. ...
... However, comparisons in social media also entail some risks. Studies show that passive use of social media, in which the focus is on reading comments, viewing profiles and the newsfeed, can lead to less well-being, satisfaction with life, and lower mental health (Lee, 2014;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020;Verduyn et al., 2015). This can be especially the case if the use becomes excessive and ends in a form of so-called media addiction (Andreassen & Pallesen, 2014). ...
... In addition, other studies consistently showed positive correlations between SNS use and social comparison orientation (Ozimek & Förster, 2021;Vogel et al., 2015), from which the Need for Social Comparison can be inferred as another motive. Therefore, these three motivesthe Need for Self-Presentation, the Need to Belong, and the Need for Social Comparisonhave already been identified as showing a stable direct connection to SNS use (Ozimek et al., 2018;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020). ...
Article
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A lot of research has been conducted to explore the high amount of daily usage time on social networking sites(SNSs). We suggest a two-dimensional frame of reference for investigating the usage of SNSs, which incorporatesboth four motives for usage and mode of usage in terms of active/passive usage. A special feature of the itemconstruction was to combine the motive facet and the active/passive facet as integral dimensions in the formu-lation of items. The advantage of this approach is the comprehensive assessment of SNS use with high contentvalidity. Till now, such a measure, which is based on the two-dimensional frame of reference, does not exist. Tofill the gap the aim of our study was to develop the Motives to use SNSs Scale (MOTUS) assessing: (1) active as wellas passive use and (2) underlying motives by conducting two studies (N1 = 597, N2 = 437). Study 1 focused onitem development, item reduction, and identification of factor structure. The analysis resulted in an eight-factorstructure that represented active and passive domains of each motive. Study 2 confirmed this factor structureby showing good values for model fit. The results confirmed the construct validity of the MOTUS. Results are discussed with respect to applications and limitations of the new measure.
... However, comparisons in social media also entail some risks. Studies show that passive use of social media, in which the focus is on reading comments, viewing profiles and the newsfeed, can lead to less well-being, satisfaction with life, and lower mental health (Lee, 2014;Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020;Verduyn et al., 2015). This can be especially the case if the use becomes excessive and ends in a form of so-called media addiction (Andreassen & Pallesen, 2014). ...
... However, some studies have reached the opposite conclusion, implying that SMU may have a negative impact on SWB (Shakya and Christakis, 2017). These studies suggest that SMU may exacerbate people's social comparisons (Liu et al., 2019;Ozimek and Bierhoff, 2020), and problematic SMU may lead to boredom (Bai et al., 2021). Moreover, some scholars have pointed out that passive SMU weakens self-concept clarity (Lin et al., 2021), which further reduces SWB. ...
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Introduction Previous studies have explored the impact of social media use on people’s subjective well-being, but there is a lack of discussion on the relationship between social media use, Internet addiction, and subjective well-being, and the research on the influence of digital skills on this relationship is not sufficient. This paper aims to fill these gaps. Based on the flow theory, this paper takes Chinese residents as the research object and uses CGSS 2017 data to analyze the impact of social media use on people’s subjective well-being. Methods Our study used multiple linear regression models for analysis. To test the hypotheses and the moderated mediation model, we adopted PROCESS models with 5000 bias-corrected bootstrap samples and 95% confidence intervals. All analyses were conducted using SPSS 25.0. Results The empirical analysis shows that social media use has a positive direct effect on subjective well-being, and Internet addiction plays a suppressing role in the relationship between social media use and subjective well-being. In addition, we found that digital skills moderated the positive effect of social media use on Internet addiction and the indirect effect of social media use on subjective well-being through Internet addiction. Discussion The conclusion of this paper supports our previous hypothesis. Besides, the theoretical contribution, practical significance, and limitations of this study are discussed based on the results of previous studies.
... Analogous contrast effects have been found in a eld study in which a moderately attractive woman was evaluated less positively following exposure to highly attractive actresses (Kenrick & Guitierres, 1980; see also Vogel et al., 2015). In addition, social comparisons on social media are likely to impair self-esteem (Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2020). ...
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As photo editing behavior (PEB) to enhance one’s appearance in photos becomes more and more prevalent on social network sites (SNSs), potential risks are increasingly discussed as well. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between PEB, self-objectification, physical appearance comparisons, self-perceived attractiveness, and self-esteem. 403 participants completed self-report questionnaires measuring these constructs. A parallel-sequential multiple mediation model was conducted to investigate the impact of PEB on self-esteem via multiple mediators. The results indicate that PEB has a negative effect on self-perceived attractiveness and self-esteem mediated via self-objectification and physical appearance comparisons. Therefore, SNS users should be aware of potential negative consequences when using photo editing applications or filters.
... Whereas Instagram browsing at T1 predicted higher levels of depressed mood at T2, T1 depressed mood did not predict T2 Instagram browsing (Frison & Eggermont, 2017). Passive use of Facebook also predicted declines in performance self-esteem and affective well-being over time, according to experience sampling and experimental data (Ozimek & Bierhoff, 2019;Verduyn et al., 2015). The pattern is further confirmed by a meta-analysis, in which passive use of social network sites was found to correlate with poor well-being (r = − 0.14, p < 0.001; Liu et al., 2019). ...
Chapter
Social media use is almost ubiquitous among adolescents and emerging adults. Although much has been studied about the psychological implications of social media use, there is currently no integrative model in which multiple dimensions of social media are considered. The goal of this theoretical article is to introduce the Multidimensional Model of Social Media Use (MMSMU), which aims to provide a useful framework for researchers and practitioners to study and understand young people’s social media use in relation to their psychological well-being. The model attends to three major dimensions: activities performed on social media, motives for social media use, and communication partners connected through social media. We present empirical evidence showing whether each dimension is associated with better or poorer well-being and identify or propose mechanisms explaining the associations. Before concluding the article, we discuss clinical implications and possible ways to further expand the proposed model.KeywordsSocial mediaCommunication technologiesWell-beingMental healthAdolescentsEmerging adults
... Ők eredményeink szerint is hajlamosabbak depresszióra, amelyben felerősödhet a kognitív torzítások, a tartósan negatív énkép és örömtelenség, valamint a folyamatos külső megerősítések vágya. Ez circulus vitiosusként tovább növelheti a pozitív visszacsatolásokra irányuló éhségüket [22]. Az asthmás gyermekek esetében lényeges az a mozzanat, amelynek során a saját magukat ért hatásokat hogyan címkézik fel, milyen oktulajdonítás, attribúció jellemző rájuk. ...
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Összefoglaló. Bevezetés: Az asthma bronchialéban szenvedő fiatalok egészségmagatartására lényeges hatást gyakorol a virtuális világ (például a Facebook). Ezt gyakran kötődési hiányállapotaik kompenzálására használják. Célkitűzés: Az asthmás gyermekek közösségimédia-használatának vizsgálata egészséges kontrollcsoporttal összehasonlítva. Módszer: A vizsgálatban 250 fő, 10-18 éves asthmás, valamint 250 fő, 10-18 éves egészséges gyermek vett részt. Velük a Facebook Használati Kérdőív, a Ten Item Personality Inventory, a Rosenberg Önértékelési Skála, a Beck Gyermekdepresszió Kérdőív, valamint a Gyermek Multidimenzionális Szorongás Skála került felvételre. Eredmények: Az asthmás gyermekek kevesebb aktív időt töltenek a Facebookkal, mint az egészségesek (p<0,001), mégis ők érzik azt, hogy ez a platform inkább az életük része (p<0,001). Az asthmásokat magasabb depressziószint és szorongás, valamint alacsonyabb önértékelés jellemzi (p<0,001). Mindkét csoport esetében a lányok használják gyakrabban a Facebookot. A lányok között a Facebook fokozott használata együtt jár a magasabb depressziószinttel és szorongással. Következtetés: Az asthmás gyermekek életében a közösségi média igen jelentős szerepet tölt be. Mivel a 10-18 éves korosztály vulnerábilis ennek addiktív hatásaira, a pszichoedukáció és a prevenció alapvető volna. Orv Hetil. 2022; 163(15): 593-598. Summary: Introduction: The health behavior of patients with asthma bronchiale can be influenced by the virtual world (e.g., Facebook). It is often used to compensate their attachment deficits. Objective: In this study, the use of social media is analyzed among asthmatic children compared to a healthy control group. Method: 250 asthmatic and 250 healthy children were interviewed from the age of 10 to 18. The Facebook Intensity Scale, the Ten Item Personality Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the short version of the Beck Depression Inventory and the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children were used in the study. Results: Asthmatic children's social media time was significantly lower compared to that of healthy children (p<0.001). However, their feeling of being part of the Facebook community is the main motivation to use it (p<0.001). Higher scores of anxiety and depression, and the lower self-esteem compared to the healthy control group can be detected among asthmatic children (p<0.001). The increased use of Facebook can be shown in both groups of girls. The increased use of Facebook among girls is in connection with a higher score of depression and anxiety (p<0.05). Conclusion: Social media plays a very important role in the life of asthmatic children. The psychoeducation and prevention is of basic importance, because the age group of 10-18-year-old children is vulnerable to the addictive effect of social media. Orv Hetil. 2022; 163(15): 593-598.
... By design, social network sites are making it easy to view others' social connections, but being privy to others' social lives may make some feel lonely by comparison. This is consistent with other work linking social comparison to decreases in indicators of social well-being (Burnell et al., 2019;Ozimek and Bierhoff, 2020), and it stands to reason that the tendency to engage in these kind of comparisons could be particularly pronounced during the context of a pandemic lockdown, when the social isolation and uncertainty might have led people to be even more reliant on social comparisons on social media to make sense of their own social situation. ...
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As the people around the globe suffered physically, relationally, emotionally, and financially in response to the COVID-19 crisis and accompanying social distancing mandates, they often turned to social media to cope. This study used an online survey to understand the relationships between social media engagement, loneliness, well-being, perceived social support, and social comparison with an Indian sample (N = 364). Correlations showed significant associations between all variables of interest, with the exception of social media engagement and perceived social support. Partial correlations revealed that an association between social media engagement and loneliness disappeared when social comparison orientation was controlled for; however, an inverse relationship between social media engagement and well-being remained, even when social comparison orientation was accounted for.
... Social comparison on social media, in particular, is one engagement type that has received growing attention in recent years [43,44]. Studies find that those who passively use social media (e.g., seeing other people's profiles but not directly interacting with them), in comparison to those who actively engage with them (e.g., by chatting via instant messaging or broadcasting in the form of posting a status update), are more likely to engage in social comparison behaviours and feel jealous towards others [45][46][47]. A meta-analysis corroborates this notion that while social media's passive use is negatively associated with loneliness, active use enhances wellbeing [48]. ...
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Young adults are currently the loneliest demographic in the UK and other Western countries, yet little is known about how they see the causes of their loneliness. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore the subjective causes of loneliness among young adults (18–24 years old), particularly those of lower socio-economic status (SES) who are in employment, renting and living in the most deprived areas, since they are the loneliest in the UK. Utilising a free association technique and thematic analysis, and embedded in a phenomenological framework, the subjective causes of loneliness in a matched sample of 48 young adults in the four most deprived boroughs of London are found to cluster around five themes: The Feeling of Being Disconnected, Contemporary Culture, Pressure, Social Comparison and Transitions Between Life Stages. Disconnection arises from feeling one does not matter, is not understood or is unable to express oneself. Challenges pertaining to social media and materialism in contemporary culture contribute to loneliness as does pressure associated with work, fitting in and social comparison. Social media play a major role in exacerbating these experiences. Finally, transitions between life stages such as breakups, loss of significant others and transitory stages to do with education and employment are felt to cause loneliness. The findings suggest potential avenues for loneliness reduction.
... It is generally concurred that self-identity is affected by social media, for example, Elsayed [6] claims that social media has negative effects on social identity of adolescents. Further, according to past researches, teenagers, and adults who overuse social media have experienced negatives outcomes such as depression and lack of self-esteem [7], [8]. As such, it can be concurred that social media plays an important role in shaping people's perceptions in the 21st century. ...
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With social media having penetrated people’s daily life, sharenting has become a common phenomenon among the current generation. The term “sharenting” is derived from the combination of the words “share” and "parenting” which refers to parents who often post or share their children’s photos/videos on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Blog, and so on. Sharenting has resulted in a lot of consequences due to the sharing of children’s information. To understand the consequences of sharenting, the current research analysed the contents of children’s information that are shared by parents in Malaysia. The research also investigated the reasons that motivated parents to be involved in the trend of sharenting. A qualitative research adopting one-to-one interview was conducted to obtain in-depth information and knowledge from the respondents selected through a non-probability snowball sampling method. The responses from the interviews were analysed using a thematic analysis where it was noted that in terms of the content shared, two key themes emerged specifically funny and interesting photos as well as children’s educational progress. On the other hand, in terms of reasons for sharenting, the respondents listed several reasons including to keep in touch with friends/family members, to keep as memories, and gain support from others.
... For example, processes of social comparison negatively contribute to users' self-esteem since the self-presentation of comparison targets is mostly positively biased and valenced [4], contributing to harmful upward social comparisons [6]. Across two studies, Facebook use was associated with more social comparison processing and lower self-esteem among adult users [25], a finding supported longitudinally as well [22]. Further, an experimental study found that self-esteem was lower among participants exposed to their news feed (containing social information), relative to those exposed to other Facebook content with no social information [26]. ...
Article
The relationship between social media and self-esteem is complex, as studies tend to find a mixed pattern of relationships and meta-analyses tend to find small, albeit significant, magnitudes of statistical effects. One explanation is that social media use does not affect self-esteem for the majority of users, while small minorities experience either positive or negative effects, as evidenced by recent research calculating person-specific within-person effects. This suggests that the true relationship between social media use and self-esteem is person-specific and based on individual susceptibilities and uses. In recognition of these advancements, we review recent empirical studies considering differential uses and moderating variables in the social media–self-esteem relationship, and conclude by discussing opportunities for future social media effects research.
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There is a lack of longitudinal data on the relationship between upward social comparison on social network sites (SNSs) and depression and its underlying mechanisms. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the relationship between upward social comparison on social network sites and depression and analyze the mediating effects of self-concept clarity and self-esteem in this relationship. We employed a two-wave longitudinal design among 1179 Chinese middle school students. The results indicated that : upward social comparison on SNSs predicted middle school students’ depression; Self-concept clarity and self-esteem sequentially mediated the relationship between upward social comparison on SNSs and middle school students’ subsequent depression. These results suggested that three types of interventions could be effectively used to decrease the risk of depression among middle school students.
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Introduction: The rise of social media has transformed social interactions, becoming essential in the lives of young people. Its excessive use raises concerns about negative repercussions on mental health, especially on self-esteem, which is crucial for psychological well-being and academic success. Methodology: This cross-sectional quantitative study investigated the influence of social media addiction on the state of self-esteem among 521 psychology students, selected by convenience. The Social Media Addiction Scale - Student Form (SMAS-SF) and the State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) were used. Results: The results indicate that problems arising from social media use (β=-0.42, p<.001) and the obsession with being connected (β=-0.49, p=0.01) are significant predictors of lower state self-esteem, explaining 10% of the variance in state self-esteem. Discussions: Social media addiction has a moderately negative impact on the self-esteem of university students, which has negative implications for well-being. Conclusions: The need for specific interventions to mitigate these effects is highlighted. Further research is recommended to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions in the long term.
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In addition to exploring how people's expectations and beliefs about healthcare information and services affect their actual health outcomes, this study aims to empirically analyze whether there is a Pygmalion effect in healthcare platforms using machine learning and natural language processing. Regression modeling will be used to provide treatment recommendations for more common diseases. We gathered a 10-month panel dataset from a major Chinese online medical portal, containing information from 10,243 physicians. We discovered a strong linear correlation between users' expectations for their final level of recovery and satisfaction and their access to doctors, medical information, treatment alternatives, and healthcare experiences. People's choice of therapy for more complicated illnesses, like heart valve lesions and breast cancer, should lean more away from conventional information sources. Patients' expectations and treatment adherence are strongly connected with the expectations of their doctors, and treatment outcomes are also significantly influenced by the beliefs and expectations of the patients themselves. Using sentiment analysis and multiple robustness polls of user ratings on healthcare platforms, we demonstrate that the treatment choices made by users are distributed linearly across various complexity levels of diseases. As a result, this study highlights the real influence of patient and physician expectations and beliefs on healthcare outcomes, proves the presence of the Pygmalion effect on healthcare platforms, and explores it for particular diseases. This has real-world implications for raising patient happiness, enhancing medical service quality, and strengthening the doctor-patient bond.
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Purpose – This paper investigates how depression and social media use are related among the young, encompassing how utilization of social media affects depression, how depression impacts social media use, and the correlation between social media use and depression. Methodology – Applying the literature review method, Scopus, Web of Science, Emerald, Science Direct, JSTOR, Wiley Online Library, SpringerLink, Taylor and Francis Online were selected as search databases and identified 17 papers that fulfilled the authors’ requirements. Findings – First, social media use and depression can be impacted by geographical locations between the East and the West. Second, the amount of time, the quantity, and the behavior of the young spend on social media significantly impact their well-being. Third, the correlation between depression and social media use is influenced by ideological representation, besides FOMO. The association between social media use and depression might also be significantly mediated by personality traits. Value – The association between social media use and depression was determined in the present investigation. First, the literature review addressing the connection between social media use and depression among the young was assembled. Second, possible explanations for the discrepancies in the results were presented. Third, potential relationships between social media use and depression were clarified.
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Social networks are gaining widespread popularity, with Instagram currently being the most intensively used network. On these platforms, users are continuously exposed to self-relevant information that fosters social comparisons. A distinction is made between ability-based and opinion-based comparison dimensions. To experimentally investigate the influence of these comparison dimensions on users’ subjective well-being, an online exposure experiment (N = 409) was conducted. In a preliminary study (N = 107), valid exposure stimulus material was selected in advance. The results of the main study indicated that the exposure to ability-related social comparisons in the context of social media elicited lower well-being than exposure to opinion-related social comparisons. The theoretical and practical implications of this study consist of including the findings in clinical settings, e.g., affective disorder therapy, and the identification and reduction of ability-related content on social networking sites (SNSs). Future work should include assimilation and contrast effects which might interact with social comparison orientation and well-being.
Preprint
A lot of research has been conducted to explore the high amount of daily usage time on social networking sites (SNSs). We suggest a two-dimensional frame of reference for investigating the usage of SNSs, which incorporates both four motives for usage and mode of usage in terms of active/passive usage. A special feature of the item construction was to combine the motive facet and the active/passive facet as integral dimensions in the formulation of items. The advantage of this approach is the comprehensive assessment of SNS use with high content validity. Till now, such a measure, which is based on the two-dimensional frame of reference, does not exist. To fill the gap the aim of our study was to develop the Motives to use SNSs Scale (MOTUS) assessing: (1) active as well as passive use and (2) underlying motives by conducting two studies (N1 = 597, N2 = 437). Study 1 focused on item development, item reduction, and identification of factor structure. The analysis resulted in an eight-factor structure that represented active and passive domains of each motive. Study 2 confirmed this factor structure by showing good values for model fit. The results confirmed the construct validity of the MOTUS. Results are discussed with respect to applications and limitations of the new measure.
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Instagram provides users with different features, including posts and stories. Instagram post stays on the users’ feeds permanently unless the content is deleted. An Instagram story has an ephemeral nature as the uploaded content vanishes after 24 h. Through a survey of 224 respondents, this study explored individuals’ psychological constructs when using different Instagram features. Instagram usage pattern (i.e., use of different features (video, emoji, etc.), categories of content (food, selfie, etc.) that users usually post, reasons for editing photos (slim body, flawless skin, etc.), amount of time to create and upload a post/story), social comparison, self-esteem, and body image concerns based on the user’s perception of ephemerality and permanency were examined. Results demonstrated that the perception of ephemerality on Instagram stories were negatively related to social comparison and body image concerns. In addition, the longer the amount of time the user spent on posting either a post or story on Instagram, the higher the likelihood the user was to socially compare. Overall, the findings align with previous research suggesting that Instagram users who socially compare are likely to have lower self-esteem and higher body image concerns.
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The social comparison theory explains some negative effect of social networking sites (SNSs) use. These Internet applications have made easier the online social comparison that in turn predicts depression and lower life satisfaction. Individuals prone to depression engage in greater levels of social comparison, particularly with others who are thought to be slightly better off, and experience a decrease in mood or self-esteem in the light of others? perceived happiness. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of the use of SNSs on the mood in an experimental design. In total, 120 university students were randomly assigned to one of two groups. In the experimental groups, the participants were instructed to access their Facebook and browse personal profiles for 20 minutes; while in the control, they read articles. For the participants with initial low mood using Facebook further lowered their mood whereas for the other participants did not have any effect. Furthermore, using Facebook lowered the mood of the participants not accustomed to use it frequently.
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Low self-esteem and depression are strongly related, but there is not yet consistent evidence on the nature of the relation. Whereas the vulnerability model states that low self-esteem contributes to depression, the scar model states that depression erodes self-esteem. Furthermore, it is unknown whether the models are specific for depression or whether they are also valid for anxiety. We evaluated the vulnerability and scar models of low self-esteem and depression, and low self-esteem and anxiety, by meta-analyzing the available longitudinal data (covering 77 studies on depression and 18 studies on anxiety). The mean age of the samples ranged from childhood to old age. In the analyses, we used a random-effects model and examined prospective effects between the variables, controlling for prior levels of the predicted variables. For depression, the findings supported the vulnerability model: The effect of self-esteem on depression (β = -.16) was significantly stronger than the effect of depression on self-esteem (β = -.08). In contrast, the effects between low self-esteem and anxiety were relatively balanced: Self-esteem predicted anxiety with β = -.10, and anxiety predicted self-esteem with β = -.08. Moderator analyses were conducted for the effect of low self-esteem on depression; these suggested that the effect is not significantly influenced by gender, age, measures of self-esteem and depression, or time lag between assessments. If future research supports the hypothesized causality of the vulnerability effect of low self-esteem on depression, interventions aimed at increasing self-esteem might be useful in reducing the risk of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
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This poster presents a preliminary analysis of data collected from staff personnel at a large U. S. university regarding their use of the social network site (SNS) Facebook in their personal and professional lives. Sixty-five percent of online American adults now have a profile on a SNS, and Facebook is increasingly utilized in organizational settings such as universities as a tool for information dissemination, recruiting, and promotion of the organization and its programs. Analysis of interview data (N = 26) found that while social media outlets like Facebook offer a number of advantages for reaching diverse populations, navigating work/life boundaries on Facebook was a concern for many participants. Through the lens of context collapse---the flattening of multiple distinct audiences into a singular group---we explicate these concerns, focusing on participants' strategies for maintaining boundaries between their personal and professional lives.
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This study examines the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online social network site, and the formation and maintenance of social capital. In addition to assessing bonding and bridging social capital, we explore a dimension of social capital that assesses one's ability to stay connected with members of a previously inhabited community, which we call maintained social capital. Regression analyses conducted on results from a survey of undergraduate students (N=286) suggest a strong association between use of Facebook and the three types of social capital, with the strongest relationship being to bridging social capital. In addition, Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.
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The present study's (N = 145) aim was to introduce a multidimensional behavioural report for assessing activity on the professional social network site (SNS) XING and to carry out a comparison with private SNS use (i.e. Facebook). Psychometric analyses revealed good internal consistency and construct validity of the new XING Activity Questionnaire. Results suggest that private and professional SNS use is positively correlated to people's ability-related social comparison orientation (SCO) and depressive tendencies on the one hand and negatively correlated to self-esteem on the other hand. In addition, both people's general SCO and opinion-related SCO were solely positively correlated to Facebook use. The findings are in line with the Social Online-Self-Regulation-Theory suggesting that people are using not only private but also professional SNSs for self-regulation.
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College students and recent graduates are the fastest-growing user demographic on LinkedIn, with an estimated 40 million profiles for these groups. Guided by the theory of planned behavior, 107 college students completed an online survey to determine their LinkedIn use, attitudes, perceived control, and social influences for networking and job/internship searching. The results of this study suggest that students are infrequent and passive users of LinkedIn. Past behaviors, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and actual behavioral control were related to the effectiveness of LinkedIn to help them find internships and jobs. Parents and friends, attitudes, and past use of LinkedIn were related to their intention to use LinkedIn. Past use of LinkedIn and parents were the significant predictors of future intention to use LinkedIn.
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Abstract This work examines the assumption that grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, although positively correlated, have different consequences for frequency and time expenditure of Facebook use and, additionally, the importance of social comparisons for both constructs. Participants completed measures of Facebook use, grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, social comparison orientation, and self-esteem. Four studies (Ns = 384, 175, 289, and 520) provided evidence that vulnerable narcissism, but not grandiose narcissism, was linked to Facebook use and to social comparison orientation if partial correlations between narcissism and Facebook use were employed controlling for core narcissism. Further analyses indicated that social comparison orientation operated as a mediator between vulnerable narcissism and Facebook use. Implications for understanding the distinction between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism in the prediction of Facebook use and social comparison orientation are discussed in the light of self-regulatory theory: Vulnerable narcissists seem to use Facebook as means to attain narcissistic goals (e.g., compare themselves with important others) whereas grandiose narcissists seem to utilize different strategies in order to attain self-regulatory goals.
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This study examined how social networking site (SNS) users' social comparison orientations indirectly affect their psychological well-being via four types of social comparison-based emotions. Based on national survey data, we found that social comparison-based emotions mediated the relationships between Facebook users' social comparison orientations and psychological well-being. If Facebook users have a stronger ability-based social comparison orientation, their psychological well-being decreases via upward contrastive emotions (e.g., depression and envy) toward the comparison other; however, it increases via downward assimilative emotions (e.g., worry and sympathy). By contrast, if Facebook users have a stronger opinion-based social comparison orientation, their psychological well-being increases via increased feelings of upward assimilative emotions (e.g., optimism and inspiration) or decreased feelings of upward contrastive emotions (e.g., depression and envy) towards the comparison other. These results indicate that the effects of social comparison on psychological well-being on SNSs become positive or negative depending on whether the users’ social comparison orientation emphasized ability or opinion, and the type of emotions triggered by the comparison. We provide theoretical discussions and practical suggestions for psychologically healthy SNS use based on these empirical findings.
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Established literature supports the notion that depressed individuals tend to be socially maladjusted and behave differently from those who aren't depressed. Yet, previous studies seem to overlook the influence of personality on behavior. Particularly, neuroticism may moderate the effect of depression on the way people behave. As one of the Big-Five factors of personality, neuroticism refers to a trait of one's capability to control emotional distress. Based on behavioral data from 393 Facebook users, current research demonstrates the interaction between depression and personality. Users engaged in activities at different levels of activities corresponding to their depression levels. Further, the effect of depression on social networking was regulated by personality: once neuroticism exceeded certain points, an increase in depression led to a decrease in social networking activities.
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This study aims to offer a holistic model for human resource practices, affective commitment, job autonomy, and employee creativity. It examines the factors that create conditions for bringing forth creativity in employees. Data were collected from 440 employees drawn from 35 hotels using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study reveal that affective commitment was acted as a mediator between human resource practices and employee creativity while job autonomy was acting as a moderator between affective commitment and employee creativity. This article contributes to a better understanding of the effect of human resource practices on the commitment level of employees working in the hotel industry and provides evidence that commitment acts as a mediator between the factors of human resources practices and employee creativity.
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An extensive literature shows that social relationships influence psychological well-being, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We test predictions about online interactions and well-being made by theories of belongingness, relationship maintenance, relational investment, social support, and social comparison. An opt-in panel study of 1,910 Facebook users linked self-reported measures of well-being to counts of respondents' Facebook activities from server logs. Specific uses of the site were associated with improvements in well-being: Receiving targeted, composed communication from strong ties was associated with improvements in well-being while viewing friends' wide-audience broadcasts and receiving one-click feedback were not. These results suggest that people derive benefits from online communication, as long it comes from people they care about and has been tailored for them.
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Facebook use is analyzed depending on age and occurrence of social comparisons. The hypotheses state that age is negatively associated with Facebook use and that this association is mediated by social comparison orientation. Data collection was realized via the Internet. The online-questionnaire included information on Facebook use on the basis of a behavioral report (cf., McAndrew & Jeong, 2012), an inventory for measuring social comparison orientation by Gibbons and Buunk (1999), and demographic questions. Results are based on 335 participants. They confirm both the negative association between age and frequency of Facebook activities and the mediation of this association by comparison orientation. These results are interpreted on the basis of evolutionary theory. This study offers new insights on the mediating role of social comparisons in the relationship between age and Facebook use. In the discussion suggestions for further routes of research on the link between age, comparison orientation, and Facebook use are outlined.
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Online professional networks become more and more important for professional self-presentation, for recruitment processes, and job hunting. While previous studies determine that individuals present themselves authentically on rather privately used social networks, self-presentation on online professional networks is still unexplored. This study examines how validly individuals present themselves on professional networks. It investigates whether an individual’s online self-presentation is idealized or rather authentic. 63 owners of a profile on the German professional network XING had to describe themselves twice – first authentically and then idealistically. Both self-descriptions were compared with the ratings of five independent observers who received the participants’ XING profiles. Results reveal that observer ratings correlated significantly with some of the profile owners’ authentic personality and job-relevant characteristics, but none of them correlated significantly with the idealized self-descriptions of the profile owners. This shows that individuals present themselves rather authentically on XING.