The concurrent and longitudinal relationships between adolescents' use of social network sites and their social self-esteem

The first aim of this study was to investigate the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between adolescents' use of social network sites (SNSs) and their social self-esteem. The second aim was to investigate whether the valence of the feedback that adolescents receive on SNSs can explain these relationships. We conducted a three-wave panel study among 852 pre- and early adolescents (10–15 years old). In line with earlier research, we found significant concurrent correlations between adolescents' SNS use and their social self-esteem in all three data waves. The longitudinal results only partly confirmed these concurrent findings: Adolescents' initial SNS use did not significantly influence their social self-esteem in subsequent years. In contrast, their initial social self-esteem consistently influenced their SNS use in subsequent years. The valence of online feedback from close friends and acquaintances explained the concurrent relationship between SNS use and social self-esteem, but not the longitudinal relationship. Results are discussed in terms of their methodological and theoretical implications.
Highlights • Social self-esteem (SSE) longitudinally predicts higher SNS use. • SNS use marginally predicts over-time improvements in SSE. • Feedback from friends and acquaintances explains the concurrent SNS-SSE relation. • Feedback from friends leads to over-time improvements in SSE. • Feedback from acquaintances does not result in over-time changes in SSE.