1. Introduction Measures Results Hypotheses Conclusions Method
Associations Between Negative Self Perception and Insecurity, Support and Social Comparison: The Moderating Effect of Facebook Use
Molly Shine & David E. Szwedo
James Madison University
Molly Shine
Introduction
Measures
3. When implicit rejection is present and there is a high number of friends, fear of negative evaluation is higher.
Negative Self Perceptions
A pattern of self esteem had emerged in which self-esteem is high in childhood, is followed by a large decrease during adolescence, rises again through adulthood, peaks, stabilizes and ends with a decline in old age (Robins & Trzesniewski, 2005).
Self esteem is needed for healthy psychological functioning (Greenberg et al., 1986).
Facebook Use/ Online Communication
Individuals low in extraversion, who were more introverted in nature, were more likely to use the Internet as a way to satisfy their communication needs (Amichai-Hamburger & colleagues, 2002).
Insecure Behaviors
Insecure behaviors can be measured as fear of negative evaluation which is related to social anxiety and is manipulated by different variables of online communication (Szwedo, Allen & Mikami, 2012).
Perceived Support
Social support is a crucial factor in development of adolescents and lack of social support can lead to low levels of self esteem and insecure behaviors (Gruenenfelder-Steiger, Harris & Fend, 2016).
Social Comparison
Users partaking in passive Facebook use, by browsing through others profiles and status updates, perceived their friends’ lives to be better than their own which in turn caused lower social well-being and upward social comparison (Qui, Lin, Leung, and Tov, 2012).
Negative Self Perception (assessed at Age 18): Implicit Attitudes About Self compared the response times of participants when presented with words that explain associations with their self as worthless versus valuable. The longer the response time, the more incompatible the two stimuli are to one another to the responding participant. For the study, teens were specifically asked about their feelings on implicit rejection and if they found that to be present in their lives and behaviors.
Facebook Use (assessed at Age 20): To determine how the participant communicated online, participants answered questions about their enjoyment of online communication, negative impact of online communication and preference for online communication. Number of Facebook friends and most recent update were obtained by viewing participants’ Facebook pages with their permission.
Insecurity, Support & Comparison (assessed at Age 22): The Social Anxiety Scale was used as a method to determine how the young adults’ felt about fear of negative evaluation. The Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure About Self was used to measure social comparison. The Child HARTER scale, specifically Social Acceptance Score, was used to assess perceived support.
Implicit rejection (age 18) and number of friends online (age 20) in regression analysis as predictors fear of negative evaluation (age 22)
Gender and Family Income accounted for in analyses
4. When implicit rejection is present and a preference for online communication, fear of negative evaluation is higher.
Implicit rejection (age 18) and preference for online communication (age 20) in regression analysis as predictors fear of negative evaluation (age 22)
Gender and Family Income accounted for in analyses
Results
5. When implicit rejection is present and updates happen frequently, fear of negative evaluation is lower. Whereas when implicit rejection is present and updates are not frequent or recent, fear of negative evaluation is higher.
1. When implicit rejection is present and there is high enjoyment of online communication, fear of negative evaluation is higher.
Implicit rejection (age 18) and most recent update online (age 20) in regression analysis as predictors fear of negative evaluation (age 22)
Gender and Family Income accounted for in analyses
Hypotheses
Implicit rejection (age 18) and enjoyment of online communication (age 20) in regression analysis as predictors of fear of negative evaluation (age 22)
Gender and Family Income accounted for in analyses
1. Negative self perceptions will lead to an increase in insecure behaviors.
2. Negative self perceptions will lead to an increase in social comparison.
3. Negative self perceptions will lead to an decrease in perceived support.
Conclusions
4. These associations will be strengthened by markers of increased Facebook use (and particularly misuse), but be diminished by the number of Facebook friends one has.
2. When implicit rejection is present and there is a feeling of high negative impact of online communication, negative evaluation is higher. In contrast, if implicit rejection is present and negative impact is low then fear of negative evaluation is lower.
Although correlations between social comparison and perceived support were found with negative self perceptions, there were no significant interactions when online communication was introduced.
When feeling rejected, many may turn to online communication and use it negatively. This can lead to fear of negative evaluation because face-to-face communication is not valued and the online self is the one being evaluated.
When feeling rejected, many seek to have more friends online to lower rejection but ultimately feel more rejected because of the idea of more eyes seeing online self.
When not updating, many feel people are not thinking about them positively or at all. Whereas when updating, by getting likes and comments, many feel more part of the online community and therefore more accepted.
Method
Implicit rejection (age 18) and negative impact of online communication (age 20) in regression analysis as predictors of fear of negative evaluation (age 22)
Gender and Family Income accounted for in analyses
Participants
Data were collected from a larger study of adolescent social development: N=184
Total participants included: 86 males, 98 females
Race and Ethnicity: 107 Caucasian, 53 African American, 24 Mixed/ Other
Median family income = $40,000-$59,000