The DOI matches its Crossref record; 62 of the 63 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Social comparison on social networking sites
Open accessAbstract
Because of the rise of social networking sites (SNSs), social comparisons take place at an unprecedented rate and scale. There is a growing concern that these online social comparisons negatively impact people's subjective well-being (SWB). In this paper, we review research on (a) the antecedents of social comparisons on SNSs, (b) the consequences of social comparisons on SNSs for SWB and, (c) social comparison as a mechanism explaining (mediator) or affecting (moderator) the relationship between SNSs and SWB. The occurrence of social comparisons on SNSs depends on who uses the SNS and on how the SNS is being used with passive use in particular resulting in increased levels of social comparison. Moreover, social comparison on SNSs may occasionally result in an increase in SWB but typically negative effects are found as people tend to engage in contrasting upward social comparisons. Finally, several studies show that social comparison is a key mechanism explaining the relationship between use of SNSs and SWB and that users with a tendency to engage in social comparison are especially likely to be negatively impacted by SNSs. The dynamic, cyclical processes that result from this pattern of findings are discussed.
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“Recent work suggests that the relationship between SNSs use and wellbeing is highly context-dependent and may vary based on user motivations, content type, and platform engagement styles”
From The associations between social comparison on social media and young adults’ mental health (2025) · cites this paper as Verduyn et al., 2020
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“the information that is shared on social networking sites gives rise to upward social comparisons, which can have negative effects on well-being and mental health (Verduyn et al., 2020; for meta-analyses, see Yang et al., 2019;Yoon et al., 2019).”
From Understanding Autobiographical Memory in the Digital Age: The AMEDIA-Model (2024) · cites this paper as Verduyn et al., 2020
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Citations
Cites
1 retracted
Retracted: Digital Communication Media Use and Psychological Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis
Liu, D., Baumeister, R. F., Yang, C.-C., & Hu, B. (2019) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1093/jcmc/zmz013 · Cited by 260
RetractedThe need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.117.3.497 · Cited by 23,245
A theory of social comparison processes
Festinger, L. (1954) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/001872675400700202 · Cited by 20,926
Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks
Kramer, A. D. I., Guillory, J. E., & Hancock, J. T. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1320040111 · Cited by 3,687
Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults
Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., Shablack, H., Jonides, J., & Ybarra, O. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069841 · Cited by 1,596
Self-citationDo social network sites enhance or undermine subjective well-being? A critical review
Verduyn, P., Ybarra, O., Résibois, M., Jonides, J., & Kross, E. (2017) · Social Issues and Policy Review · doi:10.1111/sipr.12033 · Cited by 1,209
Self-citationSocial network activity and social well-being
Burke, M., Marlow, C., & Lento, T. (2010) · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1753326.1753613 · Cited by 1,109
Sociality Through Social Network Sites
Ellison, N. B., & boyd, D. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199589074.013.0008 · Cited by 1,021
Passive Facebook usage undermines affective well-being: Experimental and longitudinal evidence.
Verduyn, P., Lee, D. S., Park, J., Shablack, H., Orvell, A., Bayer, J., Ybarra, O., Jonides, J., & Kross, E. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/xge0000057 · Cited by 988
Self-citationKim, J., & Lee, J.-E. R. (2011) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0374 · Cited by 930
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Social Media and Mental Health
Braghieri, L., Levy, R., & Makarin, A. (2022) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.20211218 · Cited by 673
Social Media and Well-Being: Pitfalls, Progress, and Next Steps
Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Sheppes, G., Costello, C. K., Jonides, J., & Ybarra, O. (2021) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2020.10.005 · Cited by 474
“But curating the way we present ourselves on social media can also have unintended negative consequences: it can lead us to feel worse when we compare our own lives against those we see depicted on social media (for a review see [47]).”
BackgroundSelf-citationSocial media use and well-being: What we know and what we need to know
Valkenburg, P. M. (2022) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.12.006 · Cited by 373
The associations of active and passive social media use with well-being: A critical scoping review
Valkenburg, P. M., van Driel, I. I., & Beyens, I. (2022) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/14614448211065425 · Cited by 324
“…as sending private messages or “broadcasting” (e.g. posting a status update), whereas passive social media use (PSMU) refers to “monitoring the online life of other users without engaging in direct exchanges with them” (e.g. scrolling or looking at other users’ profiles, Verduyn et al., 2020: 3).”
BackgroundMechanisms linking social media use to adolescent mental health vulnerability
Orben, A., Meier, A., Dalgleish, T., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2024) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-024-00307-y · Cited by 220
“Affordances enable more prominent and explicit social comparisons in social media environments relative to offline environments 158,159,163–165 .”
Metadata
- Authors
- Verduyn, P., Gugushvili, N., Massar, K., Täht, K., & Kross, E.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University (NL)
- University of Tartu (EE)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Verduyn, Philippe
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-12
- Volume
- 36
- Pages
- 32-37
- ISSN
- 2352-250X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3022958855
- Cited by
- 500
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 96 · 2025: 107 · 2024: 115 · 2023: 82 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 5
- FWCI
- 7.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Keywords
- social comparison, social networking sites, subjective well-being, upward social comparison, passive social media use
- MeSH terms
- Social Comparison, Humans, Social Networking
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