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This study examines the social networking website, Facebook and uses an experimental design to determine the relationship between two variables: self-esteem and social comparison. The study also examines the relationship between the variables of identification and similarity as a process of social comparison. Sixty-five students from a small, private University located in the northwestern United States participated in a classical pretest-posttest experiment consisting of two groups. The treatment in this study was a Facebook account that was designed to induce feelings of upward social comparison amongst the participants through the use of status updates, photos and comments from a female college student. The self-esteem and social comparison levels of the participants were measured after viewing the Facebook treatment to determine whether or not the participants experienced a change in their self-esteem, as a result of engaging in upward social comparison with the Facebook treatment. The degree to which the participants identified with the Facebook treatment and also the degree to which the participants viewed the Facebook treatment as someone who was similar to themselves was also measured to determine whether or not identification and similarity play a role in social comparison. The results revealed that the participants did not experience a significant decrease in self-esteem after viewing the Facebook treatment. Furthermore, a correlation analysis indicated no significant relationship between the identification and similarity variables and the self-esteem and social comparison variables. However, additional findings revealed a significant correlation between high self-esteem and downward social comparison. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed regarding the relationship between self-esteem and social comparison on Facebook.

Background: The ideals of beauty standards had been under constant change throughout history, and quite often would remain out of reach to the determent of many. The application of an idealized image of oneself remains a powerful tool when it comes to persuasion in social media and marketing. Although mostly spoken of within the context of women, the pressure to appeal to the beauty standard does not leave men out. Within fitness, a lot of attention is already focused on the body, and with the boon in technology we find ourselves exposed to the idealized images more than ever. Fitness influencers impact the lives of many, and the trend of an idealized male body image is being promoted daily through social media channels with varying receptions.  Purpose: Previous studies have been primarily focused on women as a sampling group, whereby it has shown that also men suffer from the idealized beauty and body standards which are promoted through different media. Especially, nowadays where social media and the impact of influencer maintain gaining more power over individuals. By studying the effect that image posts from fitness influencer have on the male body image, it is able to understand how male user react to such unrealistic beauty standards. Method: To fulfil the purpose of this qualitative study, 10 in-depth interviews were conducted with male participants in their twenties from international background. All of them followed not only an active lifestyle, which included gymming but as well following fitness influencers on Instagram. As a deductive approach was utilized for this thesis, the collected date was decoded, analysed and interpreted thematically with support of the theory. Conclusion: The findings of this study reveal that men feel content with the perception of their body image when aligned with the ideals portrayed by the fitness influencers. The effects of witnessing the idealized images had led to temporary dissatisfaction in their body image, but the participants had shown to further reflect on the presented content and the outcome resulted in feelings of motivation and a positive expectation of what their further actions could bring. Moreover, the exposure to the images is accompanied by deliberate upward comparisons to further serve as a reflection of desires which results in motivation to continue to participate in the process.

Background: Depressive and anxiety symptoms are prevailing among transitional aged youth (TAY) putting this population at high risk for lifelong mental illness as these disorders track through adulthood. Heavy social media use (SMU) is prevalent among TAY, which is concerning given it is associated with emotional distress in the form of depression and anxiety, with evidence that unfavourable social comparisons may be a primary mechanism. However, most research is cross-sectional in nature, highlighting the need for experimental studies to provide a greater understanding of how SMU impacts mental health and social comparisons. Accordingly, the primary aim of this study was to examine whether reducing SMU to 1 hour/day reduced depressive symptoms in distressed TAY. Secondary objectives included the examination of intervention effects on anxiety symptoms, and whether social comparison mediated the relationship between SMU reduction and reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms. Exploratory objectives included examining the intervention effects on individuals with greater/lesser emotional distress at baseline. Design and Methods: A randomized controlled trial was used to assign 218 (77% female) TAY (aged 17-25 years) to either the intervention group (n=116) or the control group (n=102). The intervention group was instructed to reduce smartphone-based SMU to a maximum of 1hr/day while the control group had no SMU restrictions. Study duration included 1-week baseline period followed by a 3-weeks intervention period; and mental health outcome measurements were taken at baseline and 4-weeks. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10), and anxiety symptoms were measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7), while social comparison was measured using the Technology-Based Social Comparison and Feedback-Seeking subscale (SCFS), which is a subscale of the Motivations for Electronic Interaction Scale (MEIS). Results: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed the intervention was successful in limiting SMU, evidenced by a significant group x time interaction showing a greater reduction of SMU in the intervention group compared to the control group (p <.001, parital ηₚ²=.286). Simple effects showed that intervention participants spent less time in SMU than controls at week two (79.8min (45.6) vs 186.8min (98.21), p < .001), week three (75.97min (53.78) vs 189.67min (84.38), p < .001), and week four (76.01min (57.48) vs 188.8min (94.94), p <.001). There was good adherence to submitting screenshots (94%) and this did not differ by group at baseline (p = 0.474) or during the 3-week intervention period (p = 0.834). ANOVA also revealed a significant group x time interaction showing a greater reduction for the intervention group compared to the control group at week 4 in depressive symptoms (p= .019, partial ηₚ²= .025) and anxiety symptoms (p = .015, partial ηₚ²= .027), but groups did not differ on changes in social comparison (p= .593, partial ηₚ²= .001). Three-way interactions showed that relative to controls, SMU reduction produced a greater reduction in anxiety symptoms for those with high baseline scores (p = .008, partial ηₚ²= .032) compared to those with low baseline scores, whereas this three-way interaction was not significant for depressive symptoms (p = .438, ηₚ²=.003). Conclusion: Our data suggest that reducing SMU to approximately 1hr/day may be a feasible, inexpensive and effective therapeutic component that should be considered in the overall management of anxiety and depressive symptoms in TAY with emotional distress, a vulnerable population for lifelong mental illness.

Smartphones blir allt mer en integrerad del av människors liv genom att erbjuda funktioner som till exempel tillfredsställer våra sociala behov. Samtidigt har dessa funktioner också blivit en källa till smartphoneberoenden. Detta har bidragit till utvecklingen av digital detox-applikationer som kan hjälpa en att minska sin smartphoneanvändning. I några av dessa digital detox-applikationer existerar en funktion där man kan dela och jämföra skärmtid med andra personer, där en anledning kan vara att motivera varandra till att minska sin skärmtid. Att människor jämför sig med andra personer för att utvärdera sig själva från en viss aspekt, för att i sin tur utveckla ett nytt beteende kan kopplas till Social Comparison Theory och Selfevaluation maintenance model (SEM modellen). SEM modellen argumenterar bland annat för att personer som står en psykologiskt nära har en större tendens till att motivera en till självförbättring. Detta kan ske om de presterar bättre i ett område som är relevant för ens självdefinition. Studien har därför undersökt hur delning och jämförelse av skärmtid påverkar personer inom en vänskapskrets och om det kan leda till minskad mobilanvändning. Detta har undersökts med hjälp av applikationen Timedown där 5 vänner fått dela och jämföra sin skärmtid med varandra under 12 dagar. Slutligen genomfördes en semistrukturerad intervju med varje enskild deltagare. Intervjuerna syftade till att ta reda på hur deltagarna upplevde att använda funktionen och om det påverkat deras mobilanvändning. Resultatet av studien visar att personer påverkas olika av att dela och jämföra skärmtid med vänner och att det beror på hur ens skärmtid förhåller sig till övrigas. En person som har en förhållandevis hög skärmtid jämfört med sina vänners tenderar att ha en större benägenhet till att minska sin skärmtid än en person som har en lägre skärmtid. Resultatet bör dock inte generaliseras för alla vänskapsgrupper som använder den här typen av funktion. Däremot kan det bidra med nya perspektiv på hur jämförandet av skärmtid kan användas i digital detox-sammanhang. / Smartphones are increasingly becoming an integral part of people's lives by offering functions that for example satisfies our social needs. At the same time, these functions have also become a source of smartphone addiction. This has contributed to the development of digital detox-applications which help to reduce one's smartphone usage. In some of these digital detox- applications, a function exists where you can share and compare screen time with other people. A reason for this can be to motivate each other to decrease smartphone usage.  That people tend to compare themselves with others to evaluate themselves from a certain aspect and thereby develop a new behaviour, can be connected to the Social Comparison Theory and the Self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM-model). The SEM- model argues, among other things, for the fact that people who are psychologically close to a person, have a greater tendency to motivate that person to self-improvement. This happens if they perform better within an area relevant for the person's self-definition. The study has therefore investigated how sharing and comparing screen time affects persons within a friend group and if it can result in decreased screen time. This has been investigated using the application Timedown, where 5 friends have shared and com- pared their screen time with each other during 12 days. Finally, a semi-structured interview was carried out with every single participant. The interviews aimed to find out how the participants experienced using the feature and if it affected their smartphone usage.  The result of the study shows that people are differently affected by sharing and comparing screen time with friends, and that it depends on your screen time in relation to the others. A person with a relatively high screen time compared to one's friends tends to have a greater inclination to decrease their screen time than a person with a lower screen time. The result should not be generalized for all friend groups using this type of feature. Instead, it could contribute to new perspectives on how the comparison of screen time can be used in contexts of digital detox.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to discover whether the weight-related messages and themes from food advertisements in women's magazines reinforce or contradict the messages communicated in nutrition-related articles focusing on weight control within the same magazines. Design: Content analysis of 48 issues of weight-related content six popular women's magazines, 2001-2002. There were three magazines in each of two categories, "homemaking" and "health." All food and nutrition advertisements were analyzed (n=954), along with all nutrition articles (n=336). Advertisements and articles were identified as being either weight-related or non-weight-related. Type of food/product advertised, claims used to market the product, and weight-control themes present were documented for each advertisement. Type of content, major topics discussed, food/diet recommendations, and weight-control themes were documented for all weight-related articles. Statistical analyses performed: Chi-square (Χ^2) analyses were used to test for statistical differences between frequencies of coded categories between two magazine types. Logistic regression was used to analyze differences in the presence of the weight-related themes in both ads and articles and between magazines types. Results: Articles were more likely to refer to body weight than advertisements (p<.0001) and health magazines were more likely to have weight-related content than homemaking magazines (p=.044). Fruits and vegetables were the most frequently promoted foods in weight-related articles, but there were no weight-related advertisements for fruits or vegetables. Recommendations to avoid or reduce certain foods in weight-related articles most frequently mentioned sweets, fats, and caloric beverages, yet fats and sweets were the most frequently advertised food category overall (18.5%). Health foods represented 49.6% of all weight-related advertisements. Advertisements were more likely than articles to suggest that weight control is important for appearance (p=.001) and does not require avoiding favorite foods (p=.016). Articles were likely to suggest weight control is important to health (p=.002) and is a chronic effort (p=.002). Conclusion: There is a discrepancy in foods promoted for weight control and weight-related messages among food advertisements and nutrition articles in popular women's magazines. Messages in diet articles tend to reflect professional guidelines while those contained in advertisements may promote undesirable weight control beliefs and practices.

The purpose of this study has been to investigate how women's perceptions and attitudes look around fashion companies' representation of different body ideals on Instagram.This study deals with whether the body ideal looks the same on fashion companies'Instagram and whether this is considered to affect women of different ages. The questions that are asked are about how women's perceptions and attitudes look around fashion companies' representation of different body ideals on Instagram and whetherwomen are considered to be affected by the body ideal. The question is also asked how different body ideals are found on fashion companies' Instagram. To answer the study's purpose and questions, two quantitative methods were used, this in the form of a survey and a content analysis. Materials used are the survey responses from the respondents,who were women of different ages, and a code scheme for coding different body typeson fashion companies' Instagram. The study's theoretical starting points are based on the representation theory and the social comparison theory. The study used mostly scientific articles from the journal Body Image. We also used literature to gain an insight into how women are shaped in society. The results of this study show that supermodels are overrepresented and that is why women are considered to be influenced by the bodyi deal that fashion companies represent on Instagram. These results are important as the fashion world has a strong influence on women and affects them negatively

The purpose of this study was to test a new theoretical model that integrates self-objectification, objectification of others, and social comparison as contributors to the development and maintenance of body image disturbance and disordered eating behavior. Within the new theoretical model, self-objectification, objectification of others, and social comparison are conceptualized as a self-perpetuating cycle, rather than as processes that occur independently of one another. Four hundred fifty-nine female college students between the ages of 18 and 32 completed measures of self-objectification, objectification of others, social comparison, body shame, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptomatology. Structural equation modeling with nested model comparisons was used to examine the fit of the new theoretical model relative to less complex models which contain only relationships which have received previous attention in the research literature (e.g., the relationship between self-objectification and body shame). Results indicated that the new theoretical model demonstrates good fit for the data and that the fit of this model is significantly better than the original model suggested by the literature. Hierarchical multiple regression and mediational analyses also provided support for the interplay between objectification and social comparison. Implications for clinical work as well as theory and measurement will be discussed

Communication research has begun to assess the unique relationship between social comparison, social media, and body image (Lewallen & Behm-Morawitz, 2016), yet little research has been done to assess the unique connection between body dissatisfaction, social media filters, and cosmetic surgery (Beos et al., 2021). Studies have found that viewing edited body images on Instagram positively correlates with decreased body satisfaction and behaviors of body objectification (Tiggemann, & Barbato, 2018). This study used a series of scales to measure individuals' media exposure (MTUAS: Rosen et al., 2013) body area satisfaction (BASS; Brown et al., 1990), facial region satisfaction (FRSS; Guthrie et al., 2008), cosmetic surgery normative beliefs (ACSS; Henderson-King & Henderson-King, 2005), and Instagram appearance comparison (IACS; Di Gesto et al., 2020) in conjunction with eye-tracking, and social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954). Measures were used to assess characteristics in visual processing behavior among women at differing levels of IACS, BASS, FRSS, and ACSS, and if media exposure and Instagram comparison tendencies are connected to body area satisfaction and cosmetic surgery normative beliefs. A sample of 120 females 18 years of age and older who use social media completed the scales two weeks before being eye-tracked where they viewed three images of a female's face with and without makeup and one that had been digitally enhanced. Results revealed that media exposure was not connected to cosmetic surgery normative beliefs and that Instagram comparison tendencies were not linked to cosmetic surgery normative beliefs with visual attention, yet a positive trend was observed in that direction. Implications for social comparison theory and recommendations for future research relating to facial beauty filters are discussed.

The better-than-average effect (BTAE) är tendensen att skatta sina förmågor, egenskaper och attribut över genomsnittet. Självkänsla har samband med BTAE och kontrollokus men forskning om relationen mellan BTAE och kontrollokus saknas. Studiens syfte var att fördjupa kunskapen gällande relationen mellan BTAE, självkänsla och kontrollokus inom högre utbildning. En enkät innehållande etablerade och ett egen konstruerat mätinstrument användes för att mäta BTAE, självkänsla och kontrollokus. Enkäten besvarades av 98 universitetsstudenter, därav 72 kvinnor. Resultatet visade att BTAE uppstod och att det fanns signifikanta samband mellan BTAE, självkänsla och kontrollokus. Att förklara sina framgångar med interna faktorer var betydande för förklaring av variation gällande BTAE.Studenter som ser sig som bättre än genomsnittet tenderar att ha högresjälvkänsla och tror sig personligen styra situationer och händelser både i skolan och i livet. Vidare forskning behövs för att koppla studenters BTAE till objektiva mått som exempelvis betyg och studier som baseraspå normvärden. / The better-than-average effect (BTAE) is the tendency to estimate one's abilities, characteristics and attributes above average. Self-esteem is related to BTAE and Locus of Control, but research on the relationship between BTAE and Locus of Control is lacking. The purpose of the study was to deepen the knowledge regarding the relationship between BTAE, self-esteem and Locus of Control in higher education. A questionnaire containing established, and a self-constructed measuring instrument was used to measure BTAE, self-esteem and Locus of Control. The survey was answered by 98 university students, of which 72 were women. The results showed that BTAE occurred and that there were significant relationships between BTAE, self-esteem and Locus of Control. Explaining their success with internal factors was significant in explaining variation regarding BTAE. Students who see themselves as better than average tend to have higher self-esteem and believe they personally control situations and events both at school and in life. Further research is needed to link students' BTAE to objective measures such as grades and studies based on standard values.