Glancing up or down: Mood management and selective social comparisons on social networking sites

Johnson, Benjamin K.; Knobloch‐Westerwick, Silvia

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.09.009

Cited by 102 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The The first finding is in line with previous cross-sectional 8,46 and experimental 28,34 findings showing that negative online comparison decreased individuals' well-being. In his We however believe that our findings extend prior research in at least two important ways.…”

Section: Cross-lagged Modelsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…45 In addition, Johnson and Knobloch-Westerwick found that SNS users with a negative mood select specific media content (i.e., downward online comparison) to enhance their negative mood. 46 Although this study provided support for cognitive dissonance and selective exposure theory with regard to online comparison behaviors, these findings somewhat differ from our expectations. However, this may be partly explained by differences between mood in that study and life satisfaction in the present study; whereas individuals' mood fluctuates strongly over time, 47 life satisfaction is more stable.…”

Section: Negative Comparison On Facebook Predicts Lower Life Satisfaccontrasting

confidence: 57%

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“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”: Negative Comparison on Facebook and Adolescents' Life Satisfaction Are Reciprocally Related

Frison

Eggermont

2016

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

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Social networking sites, such as Facebook, offer adolescent users an ideal platform for negative comparison (i.e., experiencing negative feelings from social comparison). Although such negative comparison on Facebook has been associated with users' well-being, the reciprocal relations between the two remain unclear, particularly in an adolescent sample. To examine this reciprocal process, a two-wave study among a representative sample of Flemish adolescents was set up (NTime1 = 1,840). Data were analyzed using structural equation Adolescence is characterized by important physical, psychological, and social changes.1 A significant indicator of successful completion of this developmental phase is life satisfaction, 2 which refers to the subjective evaluation of overall quality of life. 3 However, in the transition to adolescence, life satisfaction starts declining. 2 Because of this decline and potential adverse outcomes of poor life satisfaction, including depression and anxiety, 4,5 but also suicide, 6 it is particularly relevant to examine factors contributing to this decrease.One factor that may partly explain decreasing life satisfaction is negative online comparison; studies found an association between negative online comparison and college students' well-being. 7-9 At the same time, though, we may expect, based on cognitive dissonance 10 and selective exposure theory, 11 that life satisfaction also predicts adolescents' tendency for negative online comparison. However, no study thus far examined such reciprocal relations. Therefore, the present two-wave study aims to investigate the reciprocal relations between negative online comparison and adolescents' life satisfaction, hereby adding to prior studies that were mainly cross-sectional 9 or focused on the unidirectional impact of online social comparison. 7,8 We believe it is critical to determine whether negative online comparison and poor life satisfaction are reciprocally related and reinforce one another, given the detrimental outcomes of poor life satisfaction. This study focuses on adolescents, as this age group may be particularly at risk for the impact of negative online comparison, given both their online presence 12 and the decrease of life satisfaction during this developmental period. To examine whether attrition biased our final sample, we examined differences between those who participated in both waves and those who participated in one wave. A multivariate analysis of variance using Pillai's trace revealed significant differences, V = .02, MeasuresControl Variables. Participants indicated their gender and age. To control for social media use, we assessed, first, respondents' overall SNS use, asking "How often do you visit social networking sites" (7-point Likert Scale; never (= 1) to several times per day (= 7).Second, to assess average daily time on Facebook, we questioned how much time respondents spend, on average, on Facebook on a regular weekday, Wednesday, Friday, and weekend day.Items were rated on a 11-point Likert Scale, ra...

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Section: Cross-lagged Modelsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Negative Comparison On Facebook Predicts Lower Life Satisfaccontrasting

confidence: 57%

“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”: Negative Comparison on Facebook and Adolescents' Life Satisfaction Are Reciprocally Related

Frison

Eggermont

2016

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

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show abstract

“…Surveys of college students have linked reading others' stories in social media with ego-deflation, upward social comparison, envy, and subsequent feelings of depression (Steers, Wickham, & Acitelli, 2014;Chou & Edge, 2012). Participants in lab experiments shown fake profiles of beautiful, successful people felt upward social comparison (Haferkamp & Krämer, 2011;Johnson & Knobloch-Westerwick, 2014). Participants assigned to browse Facebook for 10 minutes without interacting with friends felt envy and lower affect (Verduyn et al, 2015).…”

Section: Social Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship Between Facebook Use and Well-Being Depends on Communication Type and Tie Strength

Burke

Kraut²

2016

J Comput-Mediat Comm

417

339

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“…Yet, as girls actually engage in self-improvement behaviors, in hopes for a more ideal appearance, most will likely realize that they are unable to match the idealized images on Facebook, and experience negative affect. Given that media users have been found to avoid content that produces negative feelings (Johnson & Knobloch-Westerwick, 2014) adolescents' body dissatisfaction (e.g., changes in self-esteem; Kim & Park, 2016).…”

Section: Facebook Use Indirectly Predicts Adolescents' Body Dissatisfmentioning

confidence: 99%

The reciprocal and indirect relationships between passive Facebook use, comparison on Facebook, and adolescents' body dissatisfaction

Rousseau

Eggermont

Frison

2017

Computers in Human Behavior

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Glancing up or down: Mood management and selective social comparisons on social networking sites

Cited by 102 publications

References 45 publications

“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”: Negative Comparison on Facebook and Adolescents' Life Satisfaction Are Reciprocally Related

“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”: Negative Comparison on Facebook and Adolescents' Life Satisfaction Are Reciprocally Related

The Relationship Between Facebook Use and Well-Being Depends on Communication Type and Tie Strength

The reciprocal and indirect relationships between passive Facebook use, comparison on Facebook, and adolescents' body dissatisfaction

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