Inspired by friends: Adolescents' network homophily moderates the relationship between social comparison, envy, and inspiration on Instagram

Noon EJ, Meier A (2019)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2019

Journal

Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking Mary Ann Liebert

Book Volume: 22

Pages Range: 787-793

Journal Issue: 12

DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2019.0412

Abstract

Research on the negative psycho-emotional implications of social comparisons on social network sites such as Instagram has rapidly accumulated in recent years. However, little research has considered the extent to which such comparisons can elicit positive motivational outcomes for adolescent users, specifically inspiration. Furthermore, little is known about whether it matters whom young people compare themselves to on Instagram (i.e., network composition) and how this may modulate the emotional outcomes of Instagram social comparisons. The present study thus sought to determine how adolescents' Instagram comparisons of ability associate with inspiration through the mechanism of benign and malicious envy. We further examined whether two key aspects of network composition - perceived similarity and the amount of strangers followed - moderated these relationships. Results from a paper survey among n = 266 British adolescents confirm the hypothesis that those adolescents who compare more strongly on Instagram also report more inspiration from Instagram use. While benign envy positively mediated this relationship, malicious envy worked in the opposite direction, indicating the need to distinguish these two types of envy in future research. In addition, while the amount of strangers followed did not significantly affect the relationships between social comparison, envy, and inspiration, higher perceived network homophily positively moderated the relationship between social comparison and inspiration by eliciting more benign and less malicious envy. Results overall suggest that social comparisons on Instagram may be more inspiring when adolescents compare themselves to similar others and avoid unachievable false role models in their online networks.

Authors with CRIS profile

Adrian Meier

Additional Organisation(s)

Assistant Professorship for Communication Science

Involved external institutions

Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) GB United Kingdom (GB) Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Noon, E.J., & Meier, A. (2019). Inspired by friends: Adolescents' network homophily moderates the relationship between social comparison, envy, and inspiration on Instagram. Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking, 22(12), 787-793. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0412

MLA:

Noon, Edward John, and Adrian Meier. "Inspired by friends: Adolescents' network homophily moderates the relationship between social comparison, envy, and inspiration on Instagram." Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking 22.12 (2019): 787-793.

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