Research On The Impact Of Social Media Comparison On Self-esteem Stability And Its Mechanism

Traditional concepts of self-esteem often focus only on the level of self-esteem,or a person’s average self-worth.However,many researchers have emphasized that self-esteem should not only be divided into high or low levels,but stable or not as well.Self-esteem stability plays an important role in maintaining individuals’mental health functions.Individuals with stable self-esteem tend to have higher levels of well-being,greater curiosity and preference for challenges in learning.On the contrary,individuals with unstable self-esteem usually have lower levels of individual autonomy,self-acceptance,as well as sense of control over their environment.Besides,they are more vulnerable to everyday stressors,which may lead to higher risk of depression.In addition,the researchers have gained new insights into the relationship between self-esteem and psychological functioning by studying self-esteem stability,which also indicates that self-esteem stability is an essential psychological variable.Therefore,it is of great importance to explore the factors and internal mechanisms that affect the stability of self-esteem.In just over a decade,the use of social media has ballooned,with the average person around the world spending more than 2 hours a day on it.Previous studies have demonstrated the instability of self-esteem in the context of social media.In this age of information,social media provides a fertile soil for social comparison,that is,the unprecedented scale of information about comparison objects.Based on this,the current study aimed to explore the impact of social comparison on the stability of self-esteem in the context of social media.Centering on this,we conducted the following three studies:The first study aimed to examine whether social comparison in different directions had different effects on self-esteem stability.A total of 159 participants(71 males,88females;M_age=23.03 years,SD=2.16)were recruited for this study.A single-factor and three-level between-subjects design in the direction of social comparison in social media（upward comparison,downward comparison,and parallel comparison）was used to measure the stability of individual self-esteem after manipulating participants to make social comparisons in different directions.On the basis of the first study,the second study discussed the role of self-concept clarity.A total of 164 participants(67 males,97 females;M_age=22.02 years,SD=1.91)were recruited for the study.A two-factor six-level between-subjects design was adopted.The independent variables were social comparison direction and self-concept clarity,and the dependent variable was self-esteem stability.Study 3 used the diary method,which helped to further explore the relationship and internal mechanism between the daily social media upward comparison and the self-esteem stability by transitioning from an experimental situation to an everyday situation.Using random sampling,the third study published the recruitment notice on QQ and WeChat.The final analysis sample was 105 participants(40 males,64 females;M_age=22.56 years,SD=2.54).A 10-day diary survey was carried out on an individual basis.And the main data analysis was performed in Mplus 8.3 using multilevel path analysis.Through three studies,the following results were obtained:（1）The main effect of social comparison direction was significant.Compared with downward comparison and parallel comparison,an individual’s self-esteem was more unstable after an upward comparison;（2）The main effect of self-concept clarity was not significant.After social comparison,there was no significant difference in self-esteem stability between the manipulated individuals with high and low self-concept clarity;（3）The greater the intensity of the upward comparison experienced by the individual,the more unstable the self-esteem of the day was;（4）Perceived stress intensity played a mediating role between upward comparison on social media and self-esteem stability.Individuals with greater intensity of upward comparison tended to perceive greater intensity of stress,which may further relate to less stable self-esteem of the day;（5）Emotion-focused coping also mediated the relationship between upward comparison on social media and self-esteem stability.The greater the intensity of upward comparison on social media,the more inclined individuals were to use emotion-focused coping,and then the more unstable their self-esteem was on that day;（6）Perceived stress intensity and emotion-focused coping style played a chain mediating role in the relationship between social media upward comparison and self-esteem stability.The greater the perceived stress intensity,the more inclined individuals were to use emotion-directed coping.The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the impact of social media social comparison on self-esteem stability,and identify intra-individual developmental processes,which would help practitioners in formulating prevention and intervention programs and bring some enlightenment to social media users and platforms.