Suchergebnisse

This study tested whether age moderates the longitudinal relationships between upward and downward comparisons on Instagram and three identity processes (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment). Two hundred and eleven British emerging adults completed two self-report surveys, two months apart, in early 2020. A cross-lagged panel model with interaction terms found that age moderated the relationships between both upward and downward comparisons on Instagram and commitment. Contingent moderations were found: the relationship between upward comparisons and commitment was negative for older participants, whilst the relationship between downward comparisons and commitment was negative for younger participants. Significant age differences were not found in the paths between the comparison behaviours and the two exploratory processes. Findings therefore provide evidence to suggest that developmental factors may inform the identity implications of social comparisons on Instagram during emerging adulthood, and thus, developmental sensitivity is required when supporting emerging adults to navigate the platform.

Social media abound with successful portrayals in nearly every life domain (e.g. appearance, social life). Many researchers have expressed concerns about such portrayals, claiming that they might be detrimental to adolescents' self-development. More specifically, continuous exposure to successful portrayals on social media may encourage adolescents to perceive these portrayals as standards to meet, which might evoke feelings of discrepancy (i.e. the feeling of falling short of important standards). The results of a three-wave longitudinal study ( N = 1032, Mage = 14.55, SD = 1.65) revealed that exposure to different types of successful portrayals on social media (i.e. attractive appearance and a perfect life) does not relate to feelings of discrepancy over time, and vice versa at a within-person level. Yet, between-person associations were present for both types of successful portrayals with feelings of discrepancy. Hence, our findings stress the importance of taking into account both between- and within-person relations when examining social media effects.

Risky selfies are recent, but worrying phenomena in which adolescents take pictures of themselves during the act of risk behavior. By applying the principles of the prototype willingness model, the current cross-sectional study among adolescents ( N = 686) aged 15–18 years old examined the relation between social media use and adolescents' risky selfie behavior. A structural equation modeling indicated that adolescents' general social media use was positively related to descriptive norm estimations of risky selfie takers and favorable prototype perceptions of risky selfie takers. Moreover, attitudes toward the taking of risky selfies and prototype perceptions of risky selfie takers were found to positively relate to adolescents' willingness to engage in risky selfie taking and their actual risky selfie behavior. Furthermore, no support was found for the moderating roles of gender, developmental status, narcissism, and sensation seeking in the reported relations with social media use.

While social media is assumed to exacerbate adolescents' depressive symptoms, research findings are ambiguous. One way to move the field forward is by looking beyond time spent on social media and considering subjective experiences. The current three-wave longitudinal panel study examines the within- and between-person relations between adolescents' self-worth dependency on social media feedback and depressive symptoms. About 1,607 adolescents participated in two of the three waves, yet a third had to be excluded due to failing an attention check. Among the analytical sample of 1,032 adolescents, we found that adolescents who derived more of their self-worth from social media feedback were also more depressed, as indicated by a positive correlation at the between-person level. No support was found for within-person associations over time. These results highlight the need to examine effects of subjective experiences with social media by separating within- and between-person dynamics to reach more precise conclusions.

Unlike most social media, the new platform BeReal encourages users to present an authentic self. Since such self-presentations are assumed to have positive effects, this study examined whether adolescents' authentic self-presentations on BeReal relate to a higher self-esteem and whether self-concept clarity plays a role in that relationship. The relationships between exposure to perceived authentic self-presentations of others, social comparison on BeReal, and self-esteem were also explored. Of the 367 adolescents who participated in our cross-sectional survey, a total of 148 (40.33%, Mage = 16.23, SDage = 1.46; 82.4% girls) had an account on BeReal. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we found that these adolescents' authentic self-presentations were not significantly related to their self-concept clarity nor indirectly to their self-esteem. Self-esteem and self-concept clarity were, however, positively correlated. Regarding exposure to others' content on BeReal, only upward and downward social comparisons on these platforms were significantly related to a lower and higher self-esteem, respectively.