Compare and despair or compare and explore? Instagram social comparisons of ability and opinion predict adolescent identity development

Abstract

Whilst there is an emerging literature concerning social comparisons on social networking sites (SNSs), very little is known about the extent to which such behaviours inform adolescent identity. Drawing upon the three-factor model of identity development (Crocetti, Rubini & Meeus, 2008), this study seeks to determine the relationship between Instagram comparisons of ability and opinion and three identity processes: commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. 177 British adolescents responded to a paper survey (Mage = 15.45; Female, 54.8%) between December 2018 and February 2019. Instagram social comparisons of ability were positively associated with commitment and in-depth exploration, whilst their relationship with reconsideration of commitment was moderated by gender. In contrast, Instagram social comparisons of opinion were positively related with in-depth exploration and reconsideration of commitment. Findings suggest that although both forms of social comparison behaviour may evoke adolescents to explore their identity, Instagram social comparisons of ability may have less maladaptive identity implications for adolescent males.

The Relationship Between Social Comparison and Self-Esteem Among Late Adolescent Instagram Users

“…Thus, individuals evaluate a person's opinion and ability by comparing themselves with others, or socalled social comparison (Myers, 2016). This leads individuals to look back on their progress, hinders explorations of identity, and reduces commitment (Noon, 2020). This study supported the findings of a previous study (Hasanati & Aviani, 2020) for the results of this study showing that there is a relationship between social comparison and self-esteem in Instagram users, where social comparisons correlated negatively and not significantly.…”

“…Social comparison is comparing oneself with other similar people and avoiding false role models that cannot be reached in their online network (Noon, 2020) [16]. Festinger et al (in Noon, 2020) divides social comparisons into two main forms: (a) Social comparisons of ability, namely comparisons of achievement and performance when individuals try to determine how well they are doing relative to others, to judge and compete with.…”

Age Matters? The Moderating Effect of Age on the Longitudinal Relationship between Upward and Downward Comparisons on Instagram and Identity Processes During Emerging Adulthood

“…Age (18–27), gender (Male = 0; Female = 1), and ethnicity (White British = 0; Non-White British = 1) (W1) were also entered as control variables for predicting all dependent variables (W2). Furthermore, as previous research has identified gender differences in terms of the implications of social comparisons on SNSs (e.g., Noon, 2020), we controlled for this effect by modelling paths between upward comparisons × gender and downward comparisons × gender (W1) and the three identity processes (W2). Finally, covariances were estimated between all independent variables, between the residual variances of the dependent variables, and between the error terms of the same items/parcels across both waves.…”

“…Previous research regarding the identity implications of performance-related comparisons on SNSs supports the idea that age could be an important moderating factor. For instance, research with adolescent samples has found that such comparisons tend to associate with positive identity-related outcomes (i.e., increased commitment and in-depth exploration) (e.g., Noon, 2020), whilst studies with emerging adult samples have consistently reported negative outcomes (i.e., rumination and the diffuse-avoidant identity style) (e.g., Yang et al, 2018a). Furthermore, one cross-sectional study has tested the moderating effect of age with a sample of adolescent and emerging adult participants (Noon et al, 2021), and age was found to moderate the concurrent relationships between non-directional performance-related comparisons on Instagram and commitment and in-depth exploration.…”

“…Social comparisons are valuable tools for learning about the self, and social networking sites (SNSs) such as Instagram have provided young people with convenient outlets for social comparison. Perhaps unsurprisingly, initial evidence suggests that social comparisons on SNSs may inform the process of identity development (e.g., Noon et al, 2021; Noon, 2020; Yang, 2021), a key developmental task during emerging adulthood (ages 18–29) (Arnett, 2000; Erikson, 1950). However, the existing literature has several limitations which this study intends to address.…”