University of Twente Student Theses
Social media and mental health : Does gender moderate the relationship between type of use on Instagram and self-esteem?
Seeger, Frencis (2018) Social media and mental health : Does gender moderate the relationship between type of use on Instagram and self-esteem?
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| Abstract: | Research revealed that social media use can have positive as well as negative consequences on the mental health of the user and Instagram is rated as the application with the most negative impact. The aim of this study is to explore if gender acts as a moderator between Self-directed use (SDU)/Other-directed use (ODU) on Instagram and self-esteem. A cross-sectional online survey-based research design was conducted. The survey consisted of in total 27 questions covering demographical questions and the three variables self-esteem, SDU and ODU. Results showed that women and men differ in how they use social media. The present study contributes to the literature on the relationship between social media use and self-esteem by emphasizing that self-esteem should rather be treated as a two-sided construct, stable as well as fluid to embrace the whole concept of self-esteem. Furthermore, self-esteem and social media use seem to be interrelated with each other and elaborated models with correlations in both directions are recommended to fully determine how self-esteem and social media use are related to each other. Finally, more data about the rapid growing social media platform Instagram and how to measure it can form a starting point for future research. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/75116 |
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