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Lau, Maggie (2020) An Investigation into Whether Social Comparison on Social Networking Sites Influences Self-Esteem Differently in Gender. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.
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Abstract
The power social networking sites has upon a user’s self esteem has been a popular topic with much debate in academic studies over the past number of years. This dissertation intends to use previous scholarly studies to build upon their knowledge to examine if social comparison on internet communication platforms, i.e. social networking sites, has an effect on self-esteem levels and to discover if gender anyway differently impacts this. Both genders have distinctive social roles in particular social situations, different gratification and motivation towards social networking sites usage, and possess different personality traits as well as behaviours, attitudes and interest towards their own physical and mental appearances. These factors may alter the outcomes when analysing self-esteem levels in gender when users social compare on social networking sites.
Positivism, a deductive approach, was used in this study to seek new insights by employing a secondary data method to explore various relating theories. Six hypotheses were made when examining self-esteem, social comparison, social networking site usage and the frequency in gender and thereafter, the primary research instrument of surveys was used to investigate whether these predictions proposed were true. SPSS software version 6 was used to illustrate and interpret the uncovered data and applying statistical tests to ultimately determine if social comparison and self-esteem displays an association with one another and towards various other speculations. The analysis had discovered that social comparison is associated with the frequency of social networking sites usage and self-esteem. It was also shown that females had a higher usage frequency on social networking sites than males. Thus, there is a gender difference in self-esteem when social comparison is executed on social networking sites. Women reflect a more substantial influence on social comparison than males on social networking sites which results in a negative impact on their self-esteem. Although this research had discovered some new substance, further research is needed to limit the effects on self-esteem and subjective well-being initiated by social comparison built on the formation of high social networking sites frequency.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology > Emotional Intelligence Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software > Mobile Phone Applications T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software > Mobile Phone Applications |
| Divisions: | School of Business > Master of Science in Marketing |
| Depositing User: | Dan English |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Feb 2021 14:19 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Feb 2021 14:19 |
| URI: | https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/4698 |
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