“Zij krijgt meer ‘likes’ dan ik” De Invloed van Online Sociale Vergelijkingen op ‘Life Satisfaction’ bij Adolescenten

Abstract

Over the past time, the use of social media has been increasing. Studies show contradictory results regarding the use of social media and psychosocial effects. Festinger’s (1954) Social Comparison Theory gives an explanation for these effects: upward and downward comparison making effects life satisfaction. The purpose of this longitudinal study is to investigate the effects between social comparisons and life satisfaction. Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) has been investigated as a moderator on the effects between upward social comparison and life satisfaction. The researched data is derived from Digital Youth Project, which consists of online questionnaires taken in two waves by 352 young Dutch adolescents between the age of 11-15 years. The results show that upward and downward social comparison have no significant relation with life satisfaction. Life satisfaction does affect upward social comparison and seems to influence downward social comparison, according to the marginal significant effects. Lastly, FoMO appears to have no moderating effect on the bi-directional relationship between upward social comparison and life satisfaction, meaning, the more one is afraid to miss out; the more upward comparisons one will make.