• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.238-248
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• 2020

This study examines the feelings of positivity and negativity generated through upward social comparison and explores the impact of the results of the emotions on SNS users' posting behavior. In particular, this study aims to systematically identify the influence of upward social comparison on SNS followers and uploaders' SNS usage behavior and the structural principle of social network circulation in which followers become uploaders again. According to the analysis, interaction-oriented followers made negative upward social comparison and positive upward social comparison, while negative upward social comparison reduced the publication of independence tendency. However, positive upward social comparison has been shown to increase both independent and interactive postings. The results of this study are meaningful in that SNS has expanded the results of prior studies, in which social comparison theories were biased toward negative upward comparisons, to positive upward comparisons. In addition, this study suggested a practical strategy for SNS platform operators on how SNS users would not deviate from other platforms.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1626-1638
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• 2019

Social Networking Sites (SNS) provide people with unique online social interaction environments where users can disclose their thoughts, feelings, and opinions to their personal contacts. Although previous studies have suggested that such activities produce positive effects on SNS user well-being, this study considered potential negative effects by investigating the relationship between SNS use and depression. In particular, This stydy examined how specific activities are related to different types of social comparison (upward/downward/horizontal) and how these different types of social comparison influence depressed moods among college students. The analysis of a survey of 245 Instagram users found that (1) looking at other people's status updates and commenting on other people's photos influences upward social comparison, (2) frequency of Instagram use predicts upward/downward/horizontal social comparison, and (3) upward social comparison was postively associated with depression, while downward social comparison was negatively associated with depression. Furthermore, the path anlaysis show that social comparison mediates the effect of Instagram use on depression. It suggests that Instagram use does not directly increase depression but it can lead to depression when social comparison on Instagram triggers depression.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.4-30
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• 2023

Previous research has empirically demonstrated the negative effects of social media use on young people's psychological well-being. Unlike most previous studies that focused on either Facebook or Instagram, this study comparatively examined the differences in upward comparison and its effects on self-esteem, life satisfaction, and depression between Facebook and Instagram. An analysis of survey data from 641 Korean college students, who reportedly use these two social media more actively than any other age group, found that college students experience more upward comparisons on Instagram than on Facebook. Upward comparisons on both Facebook and Instagram increased by college students' age and weekly usage time. Upward comparisons on Instagram increased by the additional factors of gender (females more than males) and number of "followings." Subsequently, the effects of upward comparison on psychological well-being were found to differ by social media platform. Upward comparisons were found to negatively impact all determinants of psychological well-being only on Instagram, but not on Facebook. The differences in upward comparison and its impact on young users' psychological well-being found in this study were discussed in terms of the different functional characteristics of the two social media platforms, which provides direction for further research needed to establish guidelines for healthy social media use by young people.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.353-367
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of middle school students'self-deprecation in the relationship between upward social comparison in social network service (SNS) and depression and the moderated mediating effect of cognitive flexibility. The participants were 288 middle school students, in the first to third grades from four middle schools located in Seoul, Gyeong-gi, and Jeonnam. The date were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients and the Process Macro Model 4, 1, and 14. The results of this study are as follows. First, an upward comparison in SNS has a significant positive influence on students'depression, and students' self-deprecation of students mediated the relation between two. Second, the level of control, which is a sub-factor of cognitive flexibility, moderated the mediating effect of self-deprecation. That is, if students are more likely to perceive difficult situations as controllable, upward social comparison in SNS mediated by self-deprecation has smaller effect on depression. Based on these results, we suggest practical interventions to reduce depression among middle school students by decreasing upward social comparison in SNS and self-deprecation. In addition, helping students perceive difficult situations as controllable could be another effective way of reducing depression among those students who have a high level of self-deprecation in upward social comparison in SNS.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2023

Purpose: The aim of this descriptive study was to identify the factors influencing depression risk among South Korean nursing students. Methods: The data were collected from nursing students attending two universities through web-based questionnaires that surveyed them about depression, academic stress, social network service (SNS) addiction tendency, and upward social comparison from August 22 to September 4, 2021. The collected data from 196 nursing students were analyzed by t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression. Results: The mean score of depression (using CES-D Korean version) among nursing students was 13.91, which denotes probable depression. Concerning the variance with regard to depression among nursing students, 20.2% was explained by clinical practice period, academic stress, and upward social comparison. Conclusion: Programs to relieve academic stress and depression should be developed in a simple way and systematically provided at the organizational level so that nursing students secure sufficient support during the initial and continuing period of clinical practicums. Concomitantly, an attempt to reduce the upward social comparison should be highly considered.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.574-590
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• 2016

This research aims to examine the effects of various types of social comparison in SNS on users' life satisfaction. For this, this research posited four types of social comparison including upward contrast, upward identification, downward contrast and downward identification that might affect SNS users' life satisfaction. Several other factors including demographic variables, SNS usage time, offline social capital and social comparison orientation as control variables were taken into account and the moderating effects of social comparison orientation in the relationships between four types of social comparison and users' life satisfaction was also examined. An online survey was employed for collecting data and the date collected were analyzed with hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that ages and marriage status have influences on SNS users' life satisfaction. It was proven that the degrees to which SNS users participate in family activities and club/group activities in which they are interested have correlations with their life satisfaction. The findings also revealed that only upward contrast and upward identification among four types of social comparison have influences on the life satisfaction and there is the moderating effect of social comparison orientation on the relationship between upward identification and life satisfaction. On the basis of the results, the necessity of new perspectives in understanding social comparison experience in SNS as compared to the existing literature were discussed.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.43-59
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• 2022

This study investigates an association among Facebook users' upward comparison (e.g., envy), social support (e.g., favorable comments and like), and life satisfaction, putting their self-esteem as a mediating variable. For this analysis, 1,332 female and male Facebook users in Seoul and other four cities in South Korea were surveyed. Structural equation modeling including confirmative factor analysis were employed as quantitative analysis methods. Results show that Facebook users' upward comparison with other users and social support significantly impact their satisfaction mediated by their self-esteem. Specifically, when users feel envious of other users, this emotion lowers their self-esteem, and subsequently, the self-esteem reduces their satisfaction. On the other hand, sufficient social support for users positively affects their self-esteem, which leads to the increase of their satisfaction. The present study is differentiated from previous studies in that it focuses on Facebook users' emotional changes in the process of sharing massive amounts of posts and finds a stepwise relationship among their feelings, including self-esteem as a mediating variable. Additionally, this study is the first to verify a situation when Facebook users' envy of other users' posts affects the decline in their satisfaction through the mediation of their self-esteem.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.99-116
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• 2013

This study examines whether product promotions are influenced by the market standing of promoted products, using social comparison theory (upward versus downward comparisons). It is hypothesized that people in possession of a product that is inferior to the one on promotion express less discomfort about the promotion and use the information more than do people in possession of a superior product. People in possession of an inferior product may also exhibit more positive attitudes toward the product on promotion, but may show poorer attitudes toward their own possessed product than do people with a superior product. This is because people in an inferior socioeconomic position show a strong motivation to improve themselves through upward social comparison, whereas people in a superior socioeconomic position maintain a strong sense of superiority in downward social comparison, which suggests strong endowment effects. The findings mainly support the hypotheses, and suggest that sales promotions are more effective for people who currently own an inferior product, but not for people with a superior product, who have a strong motivation to maintain their sense of superiority. The findings also imply that, in order to attract consumers in the superior market, managers for inferior products need to turn to methods other than sales promotions, which may include introducing a new brand or sub-brand, or emphasizing luxury and modern features. In contrast, managers for superior products may emphasize product functions and attributes of superior products in their promotions, as people with inferior products may consider such information as benefits of the superior products.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.91-102
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• 2020

Contingent self-esteem can be maintained by meeting the standards of social or introjected values. This study investigated whether social media-related contingent self-esteem was associated with depression in Instagram users; in a sample of 319 Instagram users, we examined the effect of contingent self-esteem on depression and the mediating effect of upward social comparison on this theorized relationship. The study findings indicated that higher contingent self-esteem predicted higher levels of depression for a week in Instagram users, which could be explained by the upward social comparisons made on this application, and showed that Instagram users with higher contingent self-esteem tended to compare themselves with other users they considered superior, thereby increasing their depression. This study provided evidence for the mechanism underlying the association between using social media and psychological well-being and indicated the vulnerability of contingent self-esteem within the social media context. Other implications and future research directions were also discussed.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.41-63
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• 2018

Incidental envy influences behavior in various domains. However, no research, to date, has investigated whether incidental envy influences interpersonal behavior toward others who are unrelated to the emergence of the emotion. That is, the literature is silent on how those who experience incidental envy engage in interpersonal contact and how this may affect consumers. In this paper, we address this question by investigating the influence of incidental envy on interpersonal contact with others of higher or lower status based on the social comparison theory. We demonstrate that incidental envy (versus a neutral emotion) motivates people to contact higher status others to facilitate upward assimilation (experiments 1 and 2). We also show that when competition (a situational factor that heightens the personal relevance of the interaction with the target) is involved, individuals who feel envy (versus a neutral emotion) are more likely to contact lower status others to engage in downward contrast (experiment 3). We conclude with a discussion of the practical implications of our findings.