A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Social Media Exposure to Upward Comparison Targets on Self-Evaluations and Emotions

Summary & key facts

This meta-analysis combined 48 experimental studies with 7,679 people to test how seeing “upward” comparison targets on social media (people who seem better off) affects users’ feelings about themselves. Overall, exposure to upward comparisons produced a small but statistically significant negative effect on self-evaluations and emotions (g = −0.24, p < .001). Negative effects were found across several outcomes, including body image, subjective well-being, mental health, and self-esteem, and the authors report that “contrast” (feeling worse after comparing) was the dominant response in these experiments.

Key facts:

• The analysis included 48 articles, 7,679 participants, and 118 effect sizes entered into a multilevel random-effects meta-analysis.
• Overall exposure to upward comparison on social media had a negative effect on self-evaluations and emotions (g = −0.24, p < .001).
• Body image showed the largest reported negative effect (g = −0.31, p < .001).
• Subjective well-being was negatively affected (g = −0.19, p < .001).
• Mental health outcomes were negatively affected (g = −0.21, p < .001).
• Self-esteem was negatively affected (g = −0.21, p < .001).
• The meta-analysis combined experimental studies, which the authors used to support causal conclusions about the effects of exposure to upward comparison targets on feelings and self-evaluations.
• The authors conclude that contrast—feeling worse after comparing oneself to upward targets—was the dominant response in the included social media experiments.

Abstract

Social media have become a pervasive part of contemporary culture and are an essential part of the daily lives of an increasing number of people. Its popularity has brought unlimited opportunities to compare oneself with other people. This meta-analysis combined and summarized the findings of previous experimental research, with the aim of generating causal conclusions regarding the effects of exposure to upward comparison targets on self-evaluations and emotions in a social media context. We identified 48 articles involving 7679 participants through a systematic search and entered 118 effect sizes into a multilevel, random-effects meta-analysis. Analyses revealed an overall negative effect of upward social comparison relative to downward comparison and controls on social media users’ self-evaluations and emotions (g = −0.24, p < .001). Specifically, there were significant negative effects of upward comparison on each outcome variable: body image (g = −0.31, p < .001), subjective well-being (g = −0.19, p < .001), mental health (g = −0.21, p < .001) and self-esteem (g = −0.21, p < .001). This meta-analysis indicates that contrast is the dominant response to upward comparison on social media, which results in negative self-evaluations and emotions.

Topics

Behavioral Health and Interventions Impact of Technology on Adolescents Media Influence and Health

Categories

Social Sciences Sociology and Political Science

Tags

Artificial intelligence Biology Computer science Context (archaeology) Contrast (vision) Developmental psychology Internal medicine Mathematics Medicine Meta-analysis Multilevel model Negative emotion Paleontology Popularity Psychology Social comparison theory Social media Social psychology Statistics World Wide Web