The Influence Of Online Social Comparison On College Students' Positive/Negative Affect Is Moderated By Social Network Characteristics

Social comparison refers to the phenomenon of individuals to define their social characteristics(such as opinions,abilities)by comparing with others(Festinger,1954).With the popularity of the Internet,online social comparison becomes more and more common,and own some new features,such as the spontaneity of comparison process and the deviation of information presentation,compared with offline comparison.At present,a large number of studies have begun to pay attention to the effect of online social comparison on individual's psychological adaptation and development results.For example,some studies have found that online upward social comparison has a negative influence on self-evaluation and affect,while online downward social comparison has a positive influence on affect.Notably,affect is an important psychological adaptation results that prior studies have found that there are important relationships between online social comparison and affect.However,there are few studies exploring the underlying mechanism.Peer is the important others in the development of adolescents,and also an important target of interpersonal communication and a major comparative goal of social comparison.As an important environment for the occurrence and development of college students' social comparison,peer social networks had become an important factor influencing college students' social comparison results.The strength of the relationship in the social network(strong ties network and weak ties network)and the direction of the relationships(outdegree centrality and indegree centrality)may have an important impact on the emotional adaptation after social comparison.Hence,this study mainly investigated the social network characteristics in both online and offline contexts,and its possible moderating effects on the relationships of online social comparison and affect.331 college students completed measures of online social comparison,positive/negative affect and ego-centered network.Firstly,the characteristics of online social comparison,positive/negative affect,and the peer social network characteristics using social network analysis,in both online and offline context,including strong ties networks and weak ties networks,outdegree centrality and indegree centrality were descripted.Then,we investigatedthe links between online social comparison and affect,as well as the moderating effects of social network characteristics.The main research findings were as follows:1.Online social comparison could significantly predict affect.Specifically,upward social comparison could not only negatively predict individuals' positive affect,but also positively predict their negative affect;while online downward social comparison could only positively predict their negative affect.2.The online social network characteristics had a moderating effect on the relationships between online social comparison and affect,and it was different according to the strength of the social ties.Specifically,in weak ties networks,when both outdegree and indegree centralities were higher or lower,online upward social comparison negatively predicted positive affect.However,in strong ties networks,the moderating effects were not significant.3.The offline social network characteristic also had a moderating effect on the relationships between online social comparison and affect,and it was also different according to strength of the social ties.Specifically,in weak ties networks,when both outdegree and indegree centralities were higher or lower,online upward social comparison negatively predicted positive affect and positively predicted negative affect.However,in strong ties networks,when both outdegree and indegree centralities were lower,online downward social comparison positively predicted negative affect.This research has confirmed the negative effect of social comparison on affectional adaptation that both upward social comparison and downward social comparison can reduce individuals' positive affect and increase negative affect.However,both online and offline social networks can buffer the negative influence of social comparison on affect.Specifically,the strong ties social networks or the good reciprocal relationships established has a buffer effect on the negative emotions after the social comparison.Furthermore,the present study suggests that in the intervention of maintaining positive emotional adaptation and mental health development for adolescents,both helping youth to minimize online social comparisons and helping youth to establish a good of peer social networks are of great importance,especially establishing emotional support networks and reciprocal relationships.