Jennifer Gerson, Anke C. Plagnol and Philip J. Corr. "Subjective well-being and social media use: Do personality traits moderate the impact of social comparison on Facebook?". Computers in Human Behavior. 63, pp. 813-822 (2016). (journal)(download)

 

The purpose of the study was to explore whether personality traits moderate the association between social comparison on Facebook and subjective well-being, measured as both life satisfaction and eudaimonic well-being. Data were collected via an online questionnaire which measured Facebook use, social comparison behavior and personality traits for 337 respondents. The results showed positive associations between Facebook use and both measures of subjective well-being, and negative associations between social comparison measures and both measures of subjective well-being. Personality traits were assessed by the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory personality questionnaire, which revealed that Reward Interest was positively associated with eudaimonic well-being, and Goal-Drive Persistence was positively associated with both measures of subjective well-being. Impulsivity was negatively associated with eudaimonic well-being and the Behavioral Inhibition System was negatively associated with both measures of subjective well-being. Interactions between personality traits and social comparison on Facebook indicated that for respondents with high Goal-Drive Persistence, Facebook social comparison had a positive association with eudaimonic well-being, thus confirming that some personality traits moderate the association between Facebook social comparison and subjective well-being.

 

 

Highlights

 

 

• Analysis of the association between social comparison on Facebook and well-being.

• The potential moderating role of personality traits was explored.

• Subjective well-being was assessed as life satisfaction and eudaimonic well-being.

• Facebook social comparison was negatively associated with subjective well-being.

• Goal-Drive Persistence moderates this relationship.