Abstract
Specific social media behaviors have been found to be differentially associated with adjustment outcomes; however, the extant research has yet to consider the motivations behind why adolescents engage in these specific behaviors. This study examined the role of two developmentally relevant motivational correlates (social goals and pubertal status) on four social media behaviors (self-disclosure, self-presentation, social monitoring, and lurking) and two time-based measures of social media use (daily number of hours on social media and frequency of social media use). Self-report data were collected from 426 middle-school students (54.2% female, 73.6% White, 11.5% Black, 4.8% Hispanic, 10.1% other ethnicity, and mean age = 12.91). Social goals and pubertal status were distinctly associated with different social media behaviors, with some relevant sex differences. Popularity goal was positively associated with all six measures of social media engagement, although the associations for self-presentation and social monitoring were stronger for girls. Sex differences in lurking followed the same pattern but did not reach significance. Acceptance goal was associated with fewer hours spent on social media for girls only. Early developers reported more self-disclosure and lurking behaviors, and marginally more social monitoring (girls only). These findings indicate the importance of identifying motivational factors, especially social goals, when considering early adolescents’ social media behaviors.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the children who participated in our study, as well as the teachers and administrators who assisted. We would like to acknowledge the undergraduate research assistants in the Peer Social Networks Lab for their help with data collection. We are also grateful to Anna Stewart and Elise Bragard for their feedback on drafts.
Authors’ Contributions
JS participated in study conception, performed the statistical analyses, oversaw data collection, processing, and analyses, and drafted the paper; MR aided in study design, data collection, and paper edits; HX aided in study design and provided guidance and edits on the paper. All authors read and approved the final paper.
Funding
This research was supported by two grants from Temple University awarded to Hongling Xie: a Grant-in-Aid Award and a Faculty Research Award from the College of Liberal Arts. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the views of the granting agencies.
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The datasets analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the senior author on reasonable request.
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All procedures performed in the current study were approved by the IRB of Temple University and in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Swirsky, J.M., Rosie, M. & Xie, H. Correlates of Early Adolescents’ Social Media Engagement: The Role of Pubertal Status and Social Goals. J Youth Adolescence 51, 74–85 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01494-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01494-0