In the last few years, Instagram has been a topic of much contention, as it has been shown to be associated with both risks and benefits for young users. This study explores the influence of the use of Instagram on adolescents’ constructions of self and interpersonal experience. Forty Italian adolescents aged between 11 and 16 years were interviewed and completed repertory grids. The results showed that the adolescents’ self-construction and distance from others were mostly influenced by receiving, or not receiving, positive feedback, rather than by using Instagram itself. Specifically, there was an increase in self-acceptance and social desirability after receiving a “like” and an increase in social isolation after receiving no “likes”. The regression model also showed a decrease in self-acceptance on Instagram in the case of female adolescents, and in participants who edited photos. These findings are useful for understanding the constant need for approval adolescents require today and could be used as a guiding tool for future studies and intervention policies. The present study offers an innovative methodology that refers to the relevant dimensions of adolescents’ self-construction rather than investigating the more general relationship between personality traits and social networks’ use.

中文翻译：

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青少年如何从社交网络的使用中受益？Instagram上的iGeneration

在过去的几年中，Instagram一直是一个备受争议的话题，因为事实证明，Instagram与年轻用户的风险和利益都息息相关。这项研究探讨了使用Instagram对青少年自我和人际关系建构的影响。采访了40名年龄在11至16岁之间的意大利青少年，并完成了全部曲目。结果表明，青少年的自我建构和与他人的距离主要受接受或不接受积极反馈的影响，而不是通过使用Instagram本身来影响。具体而言，接受“喜欢”后自我接纳和社会渴望增加，而没有接受“喜欢”后社会孤立感增加。回归模型还显示，在女性青少年中，Instagram的自我接受能力下降，以及编辑照片的参与者。这些发现对于理解当今青少年不断需要批准的需求很有用，并且可以用作未来研究和干预政策的指导工具。本研究提供了一种创新的方法论，该方法论涉及青少年自我建构的相关方面，而不是研究人格特质与社交网络使用之间的更一般的关系。