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Getting Fewer “Likes” Than Others on Social Media Elicits Emotional Distress Among Victimized Adolescents
Author(s) -
Lee Hae Yeon,
Jamieson Jeremy P.,
Reis Harry T.,
Beevers Christopher G.,
Josephs Robert A.,
Mullarkey Michael C.,
O’Brien Joseph M.,
Yeager David S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13422
Subject(s) - psychology , distress , affect (linguistics) , depressive symptoms , emotional distress , developmental psychology , peer victimization , clinical psychology , social withdrawal , peer group , injury prevention , poison control , psychiatry , anxiety , medicine , environmental health , communication
Three studies examined the effects of receiving fewer signs of positive feedback than others on social media. In Study 1, adolescents ( N = 613, M age = 14.3 years) who were randomly assigned to receive few (vs. many) likes during a standardized social media interaction felt more strongly rejected, and reported more negative affect and more negative thoughts about themselves. In Study 2 ( N = 145), negative responses to receiving fewer likes were associated with greater depressive symptoms reported day‐to‐day and at the end of the school year. Study 3 ( N = 579) replicated Study 1’s main effect of receiving fewer likes and showed that adolescents who already experienced peer victimization at school were the most vulnerable. The findings raise the possibility that technology which makes it easier for adolescents to compare their social status online—even when there is no chance to share explicitly negative comments—could be a risk factor that accelerates the onset of internalizing symptoms among vulnerable youth.