| This study examines the role social media plays in female-identified adolescents' personal and gender identity development. These theoretical frameworks include: psychosocial psychological perspective (Erikson, 1968; Marcia, 1993; Gilligan, 1982, Goffman's (1959) dramaturgical approach to self-presentation, performativity theory (Butler, 2004), and black feminist theories. The study consisted of a pilot study involving focus groups and a main study involving interviews and qualitative content analysis of Instagram profiles with female-identified adolescents. The results illustrate that adolescent girls social media identity performances reflect self-presentation rules, personal views of self and gender, and cultural gender norms. In addition, adolescent girls used social media for key identity developmental processes such as peer communication, affirmation, and self-comparison/self-evaluation. Social media serve as both disempowering and empowering tools in regards to gender, allowing the girls to either challenge or pressure to further commit to gender appearance norms. The study has implications for adolescent stakeholders and media scholars. |
