Frontiers in psychology · 2026
"Looking up" linked to feeling down: a meta-analysis of online upward social comparison and psychological maladjustment.
СтатьяСистематический обзорНазвание и аннотация: Перевод пока не подготовлен
Обработка статьи · этапы, ошибки и управление
Загрузка состояния…
Ошибки и ограничения
История · было → стало
Состояние обновляется каждые 5 секунд, пока блок открыт. Процент показывается только там, где известен объём работы. Пауза останавливает продолжение этапа; текущий запрос к источнику может завершиться.
Lei Yuqing, Hu Shirui, Sun Yidan, Zheng Lijun
Аннотация
INTRODUCTION: Social media has become a routine setting for self-evaluation, and upward social comparison with perceived better-off others may be associated with psychological maladjustment. However, the average magnitude of this association across outcome domains and the contextual factors that may moderate it remain unclear.
METHODS: This meta-analysis synthesized 94 effect sizes from 54 independent samples (N = 36,583) using a three-level random-effects framework that modeled dependence among effect sizes within studies.
RESULTS: The estimated average correlation between upward social comparison and psychological maladjustment was r ¯ = 0.330, 95% CI [0.289, 0.370]. Outcome domains differed significantly, QM(4) = 47.84, p < 0.001. After reverse-coding positively valenced outcomes, the largest average estimate was observed for social-evaluative negative emotions ( r ¯ = 0.438), followed by anxiety ( r ¯ = 0.382), depression ( r ¯ = 0.306), lower wellbeing ( r ¯ = 0.268), and lower self-esteem ( r ¯ = 0.263). No significant moderating effects were detected for age, cultural background, or data collection year in the outcome-specific models, and exploratory design-based comparisons did not indicate stronger overall effects in longitudinal than in cross-sectional studies.
DISCUSSION: Online upward social comparison is, on average, associated with multiple indicators of poorer psychological functioning, with particularly strong links to social-evaluative negative emotions. These findings highlight the need for future longitudinal and culturally contextualized research on digital comparison processes.
METHODS: This meta-analysis synthesized 94 effect sizes from 54 independent samples (N = 36,583) using a three-level random-effects framework that modeled dependence among effect sizes within studies.
RESULTS: The estimated average correlation between upward social comparison and psychological maladjustment was r ¯ = 0.330, 95% CI [0.289, 0.370]. Outcome domains differed significantly, QM(4) = 47.84, p < 0.001. After reverse-coding positively valenced outcomes, the largest average estimate was observed for social-evaluative negative emotions ( r ¯ = 0.438), followed by anxiety ( r ¯ = 0.382), depression ( r ¯ = 0.306), lower wellbeing ( r ¯ = 0.268), and lower self-esteem ( r ¯ = 0.263). No significant moderating effects were detected for age, cultural background, or data collection year in the outcome-specific models, and exploratory design-based comparisons did not indicate stronger overall effects in longitudinal than in cross-sectional studies.
DISCUSSION: Online upward social comparison is, on average, associated with multiple indicators of poorer psychological functioning, with particularly strong links to social-evaluative negative emotions. These findings highlight the need for future longitudinal and culturally contextualized research on digital comparison processes.