Upward Social Comparison As Mediating Role In The Relationship Between Social Networking Sites Use And Depression: A Study Among Local University Students In Cyberjaya

Abstract

Social networking sites (SNS) had become integral into our daily living. Generally, college students used SNS mainly to fulfill social needs, but SNS also became a platform for them to perform impression management, by idealizing their status on SNS. This appeared to be beneficial where users can decide how to present their selves on SNS, but on the other hand, it also exposed users to be more likely to engage in upward social comparison, which could potentially result in depression. The aim of present study was to investigate whether upward social comparison mediates the relationship between SNS use and depression among local university students in Cyberjaya. Participants were recruited in pilot (N=30) and actual study (N=149) by adopting purposive sampling method. Participants were required to fill up a questionnaire which was comprised of demographic section, Social Comparison Rating Scale (SCRS), and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Results findings indicated that only upward social comparison was significantly positively correlated with depression. Limitations and recommendations were discussed in respect of current results findings. Nevertheless, current result findings implied that the experience that people underwent when using SNS may be a more crucial factor to be considered in understanding how SNS was related to depression.