Sharing "selfies" on social media is common among adolescents. The frequency with which adolescents post selfies may be less important than behaviors and cognitions underlying selfie-posting, and these practices may differ by gender. This multi-method study explored selfie practices in a school-based sample of 639 adolescents (M age=17.6; 53.5% female). Participants completed self-report measures of selfie practices, body esteem, depressive symptoms, and peer behaviors. In addition, a subset of participants' social media pages (n = 245) were observationally-coded for numbers of selfies, followers, and likes. Factor analyses revealed two distinct selfie practices: selfie appearance investment and selfie peer feedback concern. Girls posted selfies more frequently, and reported greater levels of appearance investment and concern over peer feedback on selfies compared to boys. Multiple group structural equation models indicated that for boys and girls, selfie appearance investment was associated with depressive symptoms. For girls only, selfie peer feedback concern was associated with excessive reassurance-seeking and lower body esteem. No associations were revealed between observationally-coded measures of selfie-posting frequency and psychosocial outcomes. Overall, findings suggest that frequency of selfie-posting may be less relevant for understanding adolescent adjustment than investment in and concern over the selfie-posting experience.
Social media use has previously been shown to have negative implications for cognition. Scarce research has examined underlying pathways through which social media use may influence cognition. One potential pathway involves the consequences of social comparison, such that those who use social media more frequently may feel worse about themselves and more envious toward others. In turn, these negative socioemotional states could compromise memory. Further, whether an individual uses social media actively or passively may moderate these associations. Using an online adult lifespan sample (n=592), the current cross-sectional study examined whether socioemotional consequences of social comparison (self-esteem and envy) mediated relationships between social media use and memory (everyday memory failures and episodic memory) and whether active/passive use moderated these associations. Mediation models revealed that higher envy, but not lower self-esteem, partially explained the relationship between higher social media use and more self-reported everyday memory failures. Neither envy nor self-esteem mediated the relationship between higher social media use and lower objective episodic memory performance. Additionally, higher social media use was associated with higher envy to a greater extent for active users compared to passive users. These findings may suggest that high social media use has negative ramifications for both subjective and objective memory and that increased feelings of envy may partially explain these effects for subjective, but not objective, memory.
Frequent use of highly visual online platforms such as Instagram may be linked to greater body image concerns. One prominent feature of Instagram is the ability to receive feedback in the form of likes and comments. The goal of this cross-sectional study (conducted in laboratory and online) was to examine college students' receipt of appearance commentary on their most recent Instagram posts, and how this relates to their self-reported body image concerns. The Instagram commentary that 337 students (M age=20.39) received on their posts was observationally coded for positivity and negativity. Receiving positive appearance commentary was common and linked to greater appearance-related social media consciousness, and, weakly, to body surveillance. There were no associations with self-objectification, appearance-contingent self-worth, facial satisfaction, and body dissatisfaction. Negative appearance commentary was not associated with body image concerns. Photos depicting only the self were especially likely to elicit positive appearance commentary. Females received more positive appearance commentary compared to males, whereas males received more negative appearance commentary. Future research should examine long-term effects of receiving appearance comments via Instagram.
Although problematic media use among adolescents is of wide interest, less is known regarding problematic media use among younger children. The current study reports on the development and validation of a parent-report measure of one potential aspect of children's problematic use-screen media addiction-via the Problematic Media Use Measure (PMUM). Items were based on the nine criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder in the DSM-5. The first study describes the development and preliminary validation of the PMUM in a sample of 291 mothers. Mothers (80.8% identified as White) of children 4 through 11 years of age completed the PMUM and measures of child screen time and child psychosocial functioning. EFA indicated a unidimensional construct of screen media addiction. The final versions of the PMUM (27 items) and PMUM Short Form (PMUM-SF, 9 items) evidenced high internal consistency (Cronbach α = .97 and α = .93, respectively). Regression analyses were conducted to examine convergent validity of the PMUM with indicators of child psychosocial functioning. Convergent validity was supported and the PMUM scales also independently predicted children's total difficulties in functioning, over and above hours of screen time, indicating incremental validity. The second study sought to confirm the factor structure of the PMUM-SF and test for measurement invariance across gender. In a sample of 632 parents, we confirmed the factor structure of the PMUM-SF and found measurement invariance for boys and girls. These studies support the use of the PMUM-SF as a measure of screen media addiction in children ages 4 through 11 years old.
Many fear that social networking sites (SNSs) are disconnecting people from meaningful face-to-face relationships. Nevertheless, previous research suggests that SNS use is related to increased face-to-face communication. The present study was conducted to determine whether personality traits and attachment styles moderate this relationship. Students (n = 855) completed an online survey that included measures of Facebook use, time spent engaging in face-to-face communication, personality traits, and attachment styles. The results revealed that Facebook use was associated with increased face-to-face communication and that this relationship was moderated by extraversion. Specifically, the relationship between Facebook use and face-to-face communication was significant for individuals with low to moderate levels of extraversion (i.e., introverts) only. As extraversion increased, the magnitude of the relationship between Facebook use and face-to-face time decreased. No other personality traits or attachment styles significantly moderated the relationship between Facebook use and face-to-face communication. Facebook (and potentially SNSs more generally) may be especially beneficial for introverts by allowing them to build trust and rapport in a less threatening social environment that, in turn, makes them more comfortable engaging in face-to-face communication. However, research is needed to understand the direction and mechanisms underlying this relationship. Nevertheless, the present study provides novel insights into the beneficial role that Facebook may play in connecting people in the real world.
This multiple message, posttest control group design experiment investigated whether the nature of romantic comedy content makes a difference, and whether romantic comedies operate differently than other films in terms of effects. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions and viewed full-length popular motion pictures and completed a battery of measures related to idealistic beliefs and life satisfaction. Results of the 358 undergraduate participants indicated idealistic content led to stronger romantic beliefs and greater life satisfaction than did realistic content. In terms of beliefs, findings show the idealistic and control conditions resulted in an increase in romantic belief endorsement. Males and individuals in romantic relationships reported the strongest endorsement of beliefs and life satisfaction regardless of which film they viewed. In general, romantic comedies influence viewers positively, but only when the content is predominantly idealistic. Thus, the widely held belief that all romantic comedies, and only this genre, lead viewers to develop unrealistic relational expectations was not supported. However, results do extend social cognitive theory, in that positive portrayals of romance influenced viewers to report greater endorsement of beliefs and stronger life satisfaction.
Previous content analyses of pop music have considered the prevalence of misogynistic portrayals of interpersonal relationships but have used relatively small samples of music, and often neglected musician gender. Because cultural depictions create individuals' musical identity, we expect the musical norms identified by previous content analyses to be reflected by lyrics produced by males and females. The lyrics of all 4,534 songs that have reached the United Kingdom's top five singles sales chart between March 1960 and December 2015 were computer-analyzed to consider the association between 40 aspects of each and both the proportion of females who recorded each song and the gender of the vocalist. There were few associations between the lyrical content and vocalist gender. However, the proportion of all musicians who recorded each song who were female was associated positively with the lyrics containing words indicative of inspiration and variety and negatively with the lyrics containing different words, and words indicative of aggression, passivity, cooperation, diversity, insistence, embellishment, and activity. Songs recorded by a high proportion of female musicians described a wide range of subject matters in the context of abstract virtues, whereas songs recorded by a high proportion of male musicians were more likely to address stereotyped concepts of adolescent masculinity that were positively and negatively valanced. Public Policy Relevance Statement The popularity of music, particularly among young people, has led to fierce societal debates concerning violent, misogynistic, or otherwise undesirable content. Empirical content analyses of music, however, have tended to study small samples of songs and to approach "music" as a single body of work rather than considering how the content of musical outputs could vary as a function of the characteristics of the musicians who produce it. The current research looks at the lyrics of all songs to have entered the U.K. top five singles chart from March 1960 to December 2015 and shows that the content of the lyrics of these songs is associated with the proportion of the recording artists in question who were female.
Playful competition is an important hallmark of healthy child development. Playful competition facilitates moral learning, rewards perspective-taking skills, and challenges children to healthily regulate unpleasant emotions such as frustration, anger, and jealousy. Despite this, research on the effects of competitive video gaming has focused on antisocial outcomes, such as declines in prosocial behavior. Moreover, methodological shortcomings such as experimental studies using designs with poor generalizability. and a lack of longitudinal studies. leave open the influence of competitive gaming on social development among preadolescent children. This longitudinal study therefore investigated the relation between competitive gaming and changes in children's social development across 3 measures: conduct problems, peer relations, and prosocial behavior. At 2 timepoints, 1 year apart, 184 Dutch children (8.31-12.68 years old) reported their gaming frequency and listed their favorite games to play, and their parents reported their children's psychosocial health. Children's nominations were coded as including or not including a competitive video game. Children who nominated a competitive game at the first time point were more likely to show a decrease in conduct problems and an improvement in peer relations. No interactions were observed between competitive gaming and gaming frequency. These results encourage future research to investigate the social benefits of playful competitive gaming among peers, and for future studies to take other variables such as violent content, cooperative play, and real world competitive play into account.
Negative emotions are usually avoided in daily life yet often appreciated in artistic endeavors. The present study investigated emotional experiences induced by death metal music with extremely violent themes and examined whether enjoyment of this genre of music is associated with personality traits. Fans (N = 48) and nonfans (N = 97) listened to 60-s excerpts of death metal music and rated their emotional experiences. Compared with nonfans, fans experienced a wide range of positive emotions including power, joy, peace, and wonder. In contrast, nonfans reported uniformly negative experiences, including tension, anger, and fear. Fans and nonfans were also distinguished by personality traits, with fans lower in conscientiousness and agreeableness, and in their motivations for listening to music. Results suggest that individuals with certain personality traits and music-listening motivations are drawn toward aggressive music with violent themes, and their enthusiasm for this genre promotes a range of positive emotional responses to this music. Public Policy Relevance Statement Music listening is a ubiquitous pastime for teenagers, but when that music contains themes of extreme violence, questions arise as to who listens to this music and why. Here, we show that fans of violent music differ from nonfans in personality, with lower conscientiousness and agreeableness. They also have different motivations for listening to music and contrasting emotional responses to violent music, with fans reporting feelings of power and joy, and nonfans reporting feelings of tension, fear, and anger.
Over the past few years, a growing amount of research has considered the links between personality and overuse (pathological use) of the Internet. Given the partial overlap between problematic Internet and smartphone use (PIU and PSU, respectively), the present study seeks to investigate whether the same personality traits can be linked to overuse of both platforms. A total of 612 participants (177 males/435 females, mostly students) completed questionnaires assessing both PIU and PSU, and the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) to measure the Five-Factor Model of Personality and the Self-Directedness scale of the Temperament and Character Inventory. Our results indicate the existence of a common personality structure linked to both PIU and PSU. Interestingly, the associations between personality and PIU were higher than those concerning PSU. Low Self-Directedness appears to be the best predictor of overuse on both digital platforms. Therefore, lower willpower anchored in the personality trait Self-Directedness may reflect the core of digital additive tendencies. Public Policy Relevance Statement The present study suggests the presence of a common personality structure linked to both problematic Internet use and problematic smartphone use. In this regard especially, low Self-Directedness seems to be the best predictor of problematic digital use.
The past decade has seen a surge in research testing the variables and psychological processes involved in cyberbullying perpetration (defined as repeatedly harming another via electronic communication). Recent correlational and longitudinal research findings have seemingly uncovered a new predictor of cyberbullying perpetration: media violence exposure. Our research further tested the correlation between media violence exposure and cyberbullying perpetration but statistically controlled for trait aggression and traditional bullying to determine if the previously found relationship between media violence and cyberbullying is spurious to broader aggression or not. Adult participants (N = 377; average age = 34.87 years) recruited from Mechanical Turk (MTurk) completed measures of cyberbullying and bullying perpetration, trait aggression, and media violence exposure. Replicating past work, correlational analyses showed that media violence correlated with cyberbullying, traditional bullying, and trait aggression; however, the relationship between media violence exposure and cyberbullying perpetration was reduced to nonsignificance when controlling for other forms of aggression. Theoretical implications are discussed. Public Policy Relevance Statement The current study tested the relationship between media violence exposure and cyberbullying perpetration while controlling for other forms of aggression (trait aggression and traditional bullying), and results showed that the significant correlation between media violence exposure and cyberbullying perpetration was reduced to nonsignificance after controlling for broader aggression types. These results suggest that media violence exposure is not directly related to cyberbullying perpetration but could be related indirectly via broader aggression that correlates with cyberbullying behavior.
The purpose of this research was to develop a measure that systematically assesses the various components of film and TV fan identity and to test its connection to well-being. Across 2 studies, the multidimensional Fan Identity Scale was developed and validated. The resulting 9-item survey yielded 3 factors that encompassed both personal and social dimensions of fan identity. In Study 2, the relationship between these dimensions and 3 facets of well-being was also explored. Results indicated that overall fan identity predicted overall well-being. In addition, social fan identity predicted relational well-being and marginally predicted physical well-being. Avenues for future research involving the Fan Identity Scale are discussed. Public Policy Relevance Statement The Fan Identity Scale developed in the present research is used to classify fans of stories (like film and TV fans) by their enthusiasm, social behavior, and meaningful interactions with the story. The questionnaire was used to assess the way psychologically healthy fans incorporate popular media into their lives. Fan identity was related to overall well-being, and social fan identity was related to relational well-being.
We conducted a longitudinal visual content analysis of 462 popular music videos from 1995 to 2016 analyzing the depictions of sexuality, sexual objectification, and ambiguous sexual expression. Our analysis paid attention to the gender and race of the musical artist in each video, as well as the video's music genre. Regression analyses revealed that depicted sexuality and sexual objectification did not change during the period studied. However, ambiguous sexual expression, including sexual gestures, sexual poses, and sexual facial expressions, did increase over time. Furthermore, female music artists were more often portrayed as sexually objectified than male artists. Male artists were more likely shown to objectify other individuals compared with female artists. Moreover, Black and non-White artists were more often shown presenting ambiguous sexual expression than White/Caucasian artists. No significant differences occurred when comparing music videos from the R&B/hip-hop/rap genres with music videos from the pop genre. Our findings are discussed in the light of objectification theory and social-cognitive theory leading to suggestions for future research.
Social media use is now ubiquitous among young women in the United States. The current study examines a new construct related to young women's experiences with social media: appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC), the tendency for a woman's thoughts and behaviors to reflect an ongoing awareness of whether she might look attractive to an online audience. College women (N = 339; M-age = 18.35) self-reported their frequency of ASMC experiences. They also reported their overall time spent on social media, as well as their levels of self-objectification (i.e., body surveillance), body comparison, body esteem, and depressive symptoms. Women endorsed high rates of ASMC; for example, roughly three-quarters reported frequent ASMC experiences. In addition, results of 2 path analyses indicated that higher ASMC was significantly associated with (a) higher body surveillance, higher body comparison, and lower body esteem, controlling for time spent on social media; and (b) higher levels of depressive symptoms, controlling for body surveillance and time spent on social media. The results of this preliminary investigation indicate that ASMC may reflect a common set of experiences among young women and that higher levels may be maladaptive for psychological adjustment. This study also highlights the importance of understanding the broad and complex ways in which social media may affect young women's mental health and well-being.
Celebrities are used within advertisements in an attempt to impact positively on consumers' attitudes toward brands, purchase intentions, and ad believability. However, the findings from previous research on the effects of celebrity liking on brand evaluations have been mixed. In the study presented here, explicit and implicit responses to brands were more positive after pairing with well-liked celebrities (p < .01) and more positive than for brands paired with noncelebrities (p < .001). Participants also demonstrated a preference for celebrity-paired brands in their brand choices (p < .001). Participants' general accuracy-based advertising skepticism was negatively correlated with explicit celebrity brand preferences (p < .05), whereas affect-based skepticism was negatively correlated with implicit (p < .05) preferences. These results are discussed in relation to the contextual and attitudinal factors that might trigger resistance to the effects of celebrity endorsement as well as the underlying psychological processes involved in responding to ads.
