Longitudinal effects of social media feedback on psychological distress in young adults: the mediating roles of self-esteem and social comparison.

BACKGROUND

Social media feedback, particularly likes and comments, has become an important source of social validation for young adults. However, the longitudinal effects of such feedback on psychological distress and the underlying psychological mechanisms remain unclear.

METHODS

This study employed a three-wave longitudinal design over eight months to examine the effects of social media likes and comments feedback on depressive and anxiety symptoms among 398 Chinese young adults (mean age = 21.34 years, 58.3% female). Cross-lagged panel models were used to test bidirectional relationships, and bias-corrected bootstrap methods were applied to examine the mediating roles of self-esteem and social comparison tendency.

RESULTS

Lower frequency of like feedback at baseline significantly predicted higher levels of depressive (β = -0.14, p < 0.01) and anxiety (β = -0.11, p < 0.05) symptoms at four-month follow-up. Reverse paths were non-significant. Self-esteem and social comparison tendency mediated these relationships, together explaining 65.0% of the total effect, with self-esteem accounting for 37.1% and social comparison for 27.9%.

CONCLUSIONS

Social media feedback longitudinally influences psychological distress among young adults primarily through self-evaluation mechanisms. Interventions targeting self-esteem resilience and healthy social comparison strategies may help mitigate negative psychological effects of social media use.