The purpose of the present study was to analyze whether self-esteem stability moderated the association between self-esteem level and the forms of self-enhancement strategies. Previous research has found that self-esteem level can predict the forms of self-enhancement, whereas the advances in the conceptualization of self-esteem recommend that the self-esteem stability is another essential variable in terms of analyzing the relationship between self-esteem and self-enhancement. Depending on the relevant researches on use and gratification theory, which indicate that people use social media for self-enhancement and fulfilling their inner needs. This research focused on examining the forms of individual’s self-enhance on WeChat Circle of Friends (COF) and how it influenced by the interaction between self-esteem level and self-esteem stability by analyzing 305 participants in China. The results of the study show that both self-esteem level and stability was positively correlated with direct self-enhancement, but negatively correlated with indirect self-enhancement. Furthermore, the findings also show that self-esteem stability moderated the association between self-esteem level and direct self-enhancement such that individuals with stable high self-esteem reported higher levels of frequency in direct self-enhancement. However, the findings also revealed the self-esteem stability failed to moderate the association between self-esteem level and indirect self-enhancement presentation. These results suggest that self-esteem level and self-esteem stability will interact to impact the forms of self-enhancement. The importance of considering both stability and level of self-esteem in analyses of self-enhancement presentation on social media is discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USF/oai:scholarcommons.usf.edu:etd-8418 |
| Date | 23 March 2018 |
| Creators | Qiu, Xiao |
| Publisher | Scholar Commons |
| Source Sets | University of South Flordia |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
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