Abstract

Despite the growing attention to online social comparison, most studies have focused on the psycho-emotional implications of the behavior, leaving the identity implications ambiguous. Given the importance of identity development and the prevalence of social media use among emerging adults going through college transition, this study explored how social comparison on social media predicted identity processing styles among college freshmen. Short-term longitudinal survey data from 219 freshmen (M_age = 18.29, S.D. = .75; 74% female; 41% White, 38% Black) showed that social media social comparison was associated with higher perceived social pressure to be responsive on social media, which, in turn, predicted less utilization of the informational identity processing style; the comparison was also associated with higher levels of rumination, which predicted more use of the diffuse-avoidant style. The study expands the literature by showing that social comparison associates with not only affect, emotions, and evaluation of the self, as indicated by earlier research, but also how people approach their identity, which can have a long-term impact on the unity, stability, and growth of the identity.

摘要

尽管对在线社会比较的关注越来越多，但大多数研究都集中在行为的心理情感影响上，而对身份的影响却模棱两可。鉴于身份发展的重要性和正在经历大学过渡的新兴成年人使用社交媒体的普遍性，本研究探讨了社交媒体上的社会比较如何预测大学新生的身份处理方式。来自 219 名新生的短期纵向调查数据（M_年龄= 18.29，SD= .75; 74% 女性；41% 白人，38% 黑人）表明，社交媒体的社会比较与更高的感知社会压力相关，以在社交媒体上做出反应，这反过来又预示着信息身份处理方式的使用较少；该比较还与更高水平的反刍有关，这预示着更多地使用分散回避风格。该研究扩展了文献，表明社会比较不仅与情感、情绪和对自我的评价相关，正如早期研究所表明的，而且还与人们如何接近自己的身份相关，这可能对团结产生长期影响，身份的稳定和成长。