Social Comparison and Negative Affect

Social comparison is a mechanism highly involved in the development of a person’s identity starting from childhood, where evaluations are more distorted especially in a positive way, throughout adolescence, when the greater development of cognitive skills permit the generation of more realistic estimates
(73). Social comparison, as a consequence, can generate both a positive or a negative self-appraisal, affecting the way people, especially teenagers, perceive themselves and their quality of life. Evidence in literature suggests that PSMU and depressive symptoms might be mediated by social comparisons with others’ lives as they appear on their profiles (44, 47, 66), generating a sense of inferiority and feelings of worthlessness (74–78). As a consequence, people showing downward social comparisons are more likely to seek offiine feedback for reassurance (66). Social comparison is closely linked to self-esteem, which, in turn, resents of the effect of individual cognitive appraisal, acting as a moderator in the processing of comparison. As a consequence, lower levels of self-esteem can represent a risk factor when making comparisons with others’ lives (47). These results appear to be more evident in girls, compared to boys, (44, 66) suggesting that intrinsic features of female identity development can represent a vulnerability for a more negative self-appraisal, especially when comparing or evaluating physical features or attractiveness (49, 54). Moreover, it is possible that online parasocial relationships may amplify distorted perceptions, due to the filtered and selective nature of the information shared, principally when evaluating profiles of users that do not belong to a close or offiine network .