The myriad ways in which we use social media can be grouped into four broad categories, each of which is associated with a cluster of specific personality and behavioral traits, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
A recent study published in the journal Assessment offers a new, empirically tested model for understanding how our use of social media is associated with a complex web of social desires and emotional concerns.
Known as the “Social Media Use Scale,” the Washington University model is a response to a large body of research that has produced inconsistent and often conflicting findings regarding social media use’s influences on psychological well-being.
“Because of these inconsistent findings, experts have been advocating for research to examine social media use in a more nuanced way. We conducted a series of research studies to figure out what its structure may look like,” said Renee J. Thompson, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences and director of the Emotion and Mental Health Lab.
The new scale assesses the frequency with which people engage in each of four types of social media use, including:
- Belief-based use
- Consumption-based use
- Image-based use
- Comparison-based use
“Social media use is not all good or all bad for mental health,” Thompson said. “Our research is helping clarify the ways that these types of use are associated with well-being. With our current and future studies, we aim to inform healthy social media use recommendations.”
Read more about the study: https://source.wustl.edu/2023/06/what-your-likes-posts-really-say-about-you/
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