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The interplay between Facebook use, social comparison, envy, and depression
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Abstract
In their Facebook profiles, users communicate abundant social comparison information conveying mainly positive self-portrayals. Thereby, social networking sites like Facebook pro-vide a fertile ground for envy. This has been proposed as a mechanism for the potential negative effects of Facebook use on well-being and depression. This article reviews research on this process. Studies show that (especially passive) Facebook use indeed predicts different measures of social comparison as well as envy. In several studies social comparison or envy mediate a positive association between Facebook use and undesirable affective outcomes such as depression. However, causal relationships have not yet been sufficiently established. Methodological and conceptual variety across studies limits their comparability, but reveals viable ideas for future research.
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“Similarly, Appel, Gerlach, and Crusius (2016) found that passive Facebook use predicts social comparison and envy, which in turn lead to depression.”
From A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents (2020) · cites this paper as Appel, Gerlach, and Crusius (2016)
In the citing paper
“A bidirectional relationship may also exist due to a cascading feedback loop whereby depression engenders compensatory social media use, which in turn aggravates depressive symptoms due to unhealthy social comparisons and other detrimental forms of social interaction (37, 38).”
From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [37]
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Psychopathological Processes Involved in Social Comparison, Depression, and Envy on Facebook
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“I draw on outstanding research (e.g., Chou and Edge, 2012; Lin and Utz, 2015; Appel et al., 2016; Ehrenreich and Underwood, 2016; Vogel and Rose, 2016; Hu et al., 2017) to substantiate that examining other individuals’ positively presented material on Facebook may have detrimental consequences.”
BackgroundStavrova, O., & Denissen, J. (2021) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550620944304 · Cited by 49
“, 2014), stimulating envy, undermining self-esteem, and fostering a sense of inferiority (Appel et al., 2016).”
BackgroundSteinsbekk, S., Nesi, J. L., & Wichstrøm, L. (2023) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2023.107859 · Cited by 66
“…social comparison (Nesi & Prinstein, 2015) and promotion of increased body-concern and impaired body-image (Vandenbosch, Fardouly, & Tiggemann, 2022), which may forecast depression (Appel, Gerlach, & Crusius, 2016; Choukas-Bradley, Roberts, Maheux, & Nesi, 2022; Murray, Rieger, & Byrne, 2018).”
Effects of Envy on Depression: The Mediating Roles of Psychological Resilience and Social Support
Xiang, Y., Dong, X., & Zhao, J. (2020) · Psychiatry Investigation · doi:10.30773/pi.2019.0266 · Cited by 57
Khalili-Mahani, N., Smyrnova, A., & Kakinami, L. (2019) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/11485 · Cited by 52
“These studies underline the correlation between screen usage and stress-related psychopathology [48,49], or the negative health impacts of addiction to television [41,50], computer games [51,52], the internet [53,54], and social media [55-57].”
BackgroundThe Social Online-Self-Regulation-Theory: A Review of Self-Regulation in Social Media
Ozimek, P., & Förster, J. (2021) · J. Media Psychol. Theor. Methods Appl. · doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000304 · Cited by 39
Social media use and perceptions of physical health
Dibb, B. (2019) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00989 · Cited by 51
“People tend to post positive attractive photographs and write about happy and successful occurrences and this means that the material is usually upward comparison material and the comparer may view themselves more negatively as a result (Appel et al., 2016).”
BackgroundInfluentialBrandenberg, G., Ozimek, P., Bierhoff, H., & Janker, C. (2018) · Behaviour and Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2018.1545049 · Cited by 56
“…whether a positive association between high social media use and increased rates of depression exists because the evidence on this issue is mixed (Appel, Gerlach, and Crusius 2016; Datu, Valdez, and Datu 2012; Jelenchick, Eickhoff, and Moreno 2013; Simoncic 2012; Tandoc, Ferrucci, and Duffy…”
BackgroundResultCrusius, J., Corcoran, K., & Mussweiler, T. (2022) · doi:10.1002/9781394266616.ch7 · Cited by 50
Self-citationBalaban, D. C., Mucundorfeanu, M., & Naderer, B. (2021) · Communications · doi:10.1515/commun-2020-0053 · Cited by 82
Depressive symptoms and upward social comparisons during Instagram use: A vicious circle
Aubry, R., Quiamzade, A., & Meier, L. L. (2023) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2023.112458 · Cited by 62
Soraci, P., Demetrovics, Z., Bevan, N., Pisanti, R., Servidio, R. C., Bernardo, C. D., Chini, E., & Griffiths, M. D. (2025) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-024-01432-8 · Cited by 68
“…or emotional distress are more susceptible to social comparison, because they tend to perceive themselves as excluded or inferior to others, particularly when they observe images of ostensibly perfect lives characterized by success on social media (Appel et al., 2016; Baker et al., 2016).”
Why Social Comparison on Instagram Matters: Its impact on Depression
Hwnag, H. S. (2019) · KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems · doi:10.3837/tiis.2019.03.029 · Cited by 46
“Thus, it appears that users view SNSs as idealized places to facilitate negative social comparison [19].”
BackgroundFacebook’s Ideal User: Healthy Habits, Social Capital, and the Politics of Well-Being Online
Docherty, N. (2020) · Social Media + Society · doi:10.1177/2056305120915606 · Cited by 48
“…of Facebook (Busby, 2018; Carey, 2019; O’Neil, 2019), and are explored in psychological studies that associate increased Facebook usage with decreased subjective well-being (Kross et al., 2013), higher levels of depression (Feinstein et al., 2013), and increased envy in users (Appel et al., 2016).”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Appel, H., Gerlach, A. L., & Crusius, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Cologne (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Appel, Helmut
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-06
- Volume
- 9
- Pages
- 44-49
- ISSN
- 2352-250X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1928177371
- Cited by
- 605
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 74 · 2025: 69 · 2024: 59 · 2023: 95 · 2022: 51 · 2021: 69 · 2020: 77 · 2019: 51 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 7.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Kölner Universitäts PublikationsServer (Universität zu Köln) (publishedVersion)
- Kölner Universitäts PublikationsServer (Universität zu Köln) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Keywords
- Facebook use, social comparison, envy, depression, social networking sites, passive social media use, self-presentation, well-being, mediation
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