Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. In Indonesia, Instagram has more than 22 million monthly active users. However, its use may increase depressive symptoms due to negative social interaction, particularly social comparison. We hypothesized that social comparison was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms. Using an online questionnaire platform, 131 participants aged 18-28year-old were recruited. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale by Radloff (1977) and social comparison was measured with Social Comparison Rating Scale (Allan & Gillbert, 1995) adapted by Feinstein et al. (2013). A significant correlation between social comparison and depressive symptoms was found. Moreover, a significant correlation between percentage of strangers followed and social comparison was found, while the correlation between frequency of Instagram use and social comparison was not significant. These findings indicate that social comparison occurs in spite of various time spent in using Instagram and might occur more frequently with a higher number of strangers followed. Instagram users should become aware that Instagram could facilitate negative social comparison which may result in depressive symptoms, so they should use Instagram cautiously.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.