A new study has found that that college students who perceive themselves as more authentic on social media platforms tend to experience better mental health outcomes. The research, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, highlights a significant predictor of mental well-being in the digital age – one’s sense of authenticity online.
In the era of Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, the impact of social media on mental health has become a topic of increasing concern, particularly among young adults. Prior research has established a connection between authenticity – the degree to which one feels true to oneself – and general well-being. However, the unique role of social media in shaping this sense of authenticity had not been thoroughly explored until now.
This gap in research is especially pertinent given that young adults, particularly college students, are among the most active social media users. Understanding how their online self-perception affects their mental health is crucial for developing more effective mental health strategies and interventions in a world where digital interaction is ubiquitous.
“My research interests focus on the relationship between social media use and how people perceive themselves. As people constantly switch between offline and social media contexts, they may think, feel, and behave differently based on varying norms, values, and communities between these spaces,” said study author Cameron J. Bunker, an assistant professor at Emerson College.
“A key question is whether the selves people express online (which may be quite different than those expressed offline) are beneficial for people. This question is theoretically interesting to me. It also has practical implications for the social and psychological well-being of the increasingly digital world.”
The study involved 197 college students from a major university in the southwestern United States. All participants were active users of social media and over the age of 18. This demographic was chosen due to their high engagement with social media, making them ideal subjects for understanding the impacts of online interactions on mental health.
Over a span of two months, the study was conducted in two phases using longitudinal surveys. These surveys measured two key areas: perceived authenticity and mental health.
Perceived authenticity was assessed using an adapted version of the Authenticity Scale, which includes aspects like genuine living, susceptibility to external influence, and feelings of self-alienation. The students’ mental health was evaluated using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale and the Positive Mental Health Scale. These scales helped quantify levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and overall positive mental well-being.
The researchers found a significant relationship between how authentic students felt on social media and their mental health. Specifically, students who perceived themselves as more authentic on these platforms at the beginning of the study reported lower levels of stress and better overall mental health two months later.
A particularly intriguing aspect of the findings was the unique role of social media. When comparing the impact of perceived authenticity in both online and offline contexts, only the authenticity on social media stood out as a significant predictor of mental health outcomes. This underscores the distinctive and powerful influence of social media on the mental well-being of young adults.
“People who perceive themselves as authentic have better mental health,” Bunker told PsyPost. “However, how people perceive themselves varies across social contexts. We found that how authentic young people (mostly Gen Z college students) perceive themselves on social media may matter more for their mental health than how authentic they perceive themselves offline.”
In another study published in Computers in Human Behavior, which involved cross-sectional analyses of 1,741 individuals, Bunker and his colleagues uncovered differences in how Baby Boomers and Generation Z tend to perceive themselves on social media versus offline.
While both generations perceived their personalities as similar but not the same across offline and social media contexts, Baby Boomers viewed themselves as more similar between these contexts compared to Generation Z. This suggests a generational difference in how integrated one’s online and offline personas are​​.
In particular, Generation Z participants were more likely than Baby Boomers to perceive their online persona as more open, conscientious, extraverted, and emotionally stable than their offline self. Additionally, for Generation Z, perceiving themselves as similar across social media and offline contexts was negatively associated with psychological well-being. This indicates that young adults who differentiate between their online and offline selves may experience less depression and higher life satisfaction.
“One interesting thing when you look at the pieces together: Perceived authenticity on social media but not perceived similarity between offline and social media contexts predicts better mental health in Gen Z,” Bunker explained. “It is possible that the self that young people perceive on social media doesn’t have to be similar to who they are offline to be perceived as authentic or indicative of positive mental health. This idea poses some interesting possibilities where social media may be a space where young people can express versions of themselves they can’t as well offline.”
But the studies, like all research, included some limitations. Bunker noted that the samples were “collected in the United States, a culture that values an individualistic conception of the self that is consistent across contexts (‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease’). In other cultures where the self is supposed to mold to context (‘the nail that sticks out gets pounded down’), the picture between authenticity on social media and mental health may be more complex.”
The study, “Perceiving the self as authentic on social media precedes fewer mental health symptoms: A longitudinal approach“, was authored by Cameron J. Bunker, Julia M. Balcerowska, Lena-Marie Precht, Jürgen Margraf, and Julia Brailovskaia.
The study, “Similarity between perceived selves on social media and offline and its relationship with psychological well-being in early and late adulthood“, was authored by Cameron J. Bunker and Virginia S.Y. Kwan.
