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In addition to maintaining social relationships, social networking sites (SNS) are a platform for social comparison and self-esteem. Social comparison theory posits an innate drive to assess and evaluate oneself by comparing oneself to others, influencing self-esteem. Although existing research relates to SNS usage, social comparison, and selfesteem in other countries, no studies have been conducted in the cultural context of the Philippines. It is to be noted that the Philippines is one of the most active social media communities in the world, with the 18-24 age group making up the most significant proportion of users in the country. The current study investigates the relationship between SNS use. social comparison, and self-esteem. We examine social comparison's possible mediating or moderating role in the association between social networking site use and self-esteem. Seven hundred fifty-seven Filipino young adults (66.1% women, Mage = 19.35 years; SD = 1.15) voluntarily participated and completed the Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Social Networking Time Use Scale. It was found that social comparison mediated but not moderated the association between increased social networking site use and lower self-esteem. These findings provide a more nuanced picture of the role of social comparison in this association. Future research may examine the generalizability of our findings to other platforms and explore the relationship of the variables with SNS engagement (i.e., friend or follower count, content on feed, etc.) and online behavior (active vs. passive use).
Keywords: self-esteem, social comparison, social networking sites, young adults
Social comparison is an innate tendency to compare oneself to others to learn about the self (Festinger, 1954). Social comparison is either upward or downward, depending on the status of those against whom the self is judged. Upward social comparison occurs when we compare ourselves to those we regard as superior or having mostly better characteristics. Similarly, downward social comparison occurs when we compare ourselves to those we believe are inferior or have mostly worse features. In general, favorable comparisons result in positive emotions, while unfavorable comparisons result in negative emotions (Wills, 1981; Wood, 1989; as cited in Vogel et al., 2014).
However, the actual social comparisons we make are not incidental. Instead, social comparison serves to acquire knowledge about one position relative to others,...