Department of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway.
Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Measures, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Sep 27;24(1):2635. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20052-4.
The intensive use of social media among adolescents has caused concern about its impact on their mental health, but studies show that social media use is linked to both better and worse mental health. These seemingly contradictory findings may result from the diverse motivations, interactions, and experiences related to social media use, and studies investigating specific facets of social media use in relation to mental health and well-being, beyond general usage metrics, have been called for. Aspects of self-presentation on social media, such as feedback-seeking and upwards social comparison have been linked to worse mental health, however, there is a need for more studies exploring the relationship between self-presentation on social media and adolescent mental health over time.
The aim of this study was to explore the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationship between aspects of self-presentation and depression, anxiety, and well-being among adolescents.
This study utilised both cross-sectional and longitudinal datasets from the LifeOnSoMe-study, comprising 3,424 and 439 participants, respectively (OSF preregistration https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/BVPS8 ). Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was used to identify similar response patterns within the Self-Presentation and Upwards Social Comparison Inclination Scale (SPAUSCIS). Regression models and first differencing methods were applied to evaluate the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between focus on self-presentation and mental health and well-being among adolescents.
A strong emphasis on self-presentation was linked to increased levels of depression and anxiety in both males and females, and reduced well-being in females when compared to those with lower or intermediate self-presentation focus. The effect sizes ranged from small to medium. Furthermore, an escalation in self-presentation focus over time was associated with a slight increase in symptoms of anxiety and depression; however, the association with well-being did not reach statistical significance.
The results of the present study suggest that a heightened focus on self-presentation, which includes behaviours such as seeking feedback, employing strategic self-presentation tactics, and engaging in upward social comparisons, is associated with an elevated risk of reduced mental health.
青少年对社交媒体的大量使用引起了人们对其心理健康影响的关注，但研究表明，社交媒体的使用与更好和更差的心理健康都有关联。这些看似矛盾的发现可能是由于与社交媒体使用相关的动机、互动和体验的多样性造成的，因此需要研究特定方面的社交媒体使用与心理健康和幸福感的关系，而不仅仅是使用的一般指标。社交媒体上的自我呈现方面，如寻求反馈和向上的社会比较，与更差的心理健康有关，但需要更多的研究来探索社交媒体上的自我呈现与青少年心理健康之间的关系随时间的变化。
本研究旨在探讨青少年自我呈现方面与抑郁、焦虑和幸福感之间的横断面和纵向关系。
本研究利用了来自 LifeOnSoMe 研究的横断面和纵向数据集，分别包含 3424 名和 439 名参与者（OSF 预注册 https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/BVPS8）。潜在类别分析（LCA）用于识别自我呈现和向上社会比较倾向量表（SPAUSCIS）中的相似反应模式。回归模型和一阶差分方法用于评估青少年中自我呈现与心理健康和幸福感之间的横断面和纵向关联。
强烈关注自我呈现与男性和女性的抑郁和焦虑水平升高有关，与低或中等自我呈现关注的个体相比，女性的幸福感降低。效应大小从小到中等不等。此外，随着时间的推移，自我呈现焦点的加剧与焦虑和抑郁症状的轻微增加有关；然而，与幸福感的关联没有达到统计学意义。
本研究的结果表明，对自我呈现的高度关注，包括寻求反馈、运用策略性的自我呈现策略和参与向上的社会比较等行为，与心理健康水平降低的风险增加有关。
