Online motivations predict social media behaviors  and emotional adjustment

Margaret Kleiser Polk; Lara Mayeux

doi:10.29329/jsomer.88

Authors

Margaret Kleiser Polk Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3044-1555
Lara Mayeux University of Oklahoma, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8369-8675

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29329/jsomer.88

Keywords:

Like-Seeking Behaviors, Popularity Goals , Social Comparison, Emotional Adjustment, Social Media Use

Abstract

As emerging adults continue to be the largest reported age group on multiple social media sites (Gottfried, 2024), the need to understand what they do online and why they go online grows to better explain the associated ramifications. By exploring emerging adults’ motivations alongside their online behaviors, researchers may uncover a fuller picture of their online worlds. This study examined relationships among social media motivations (i.e., popularity goals and social comparison), like- seeking behaviors (normative, deceptive, and manipulative-popular), and emotional adjustment (depressive symptoms, social anxiety, and body image satisfaction) in emerging adults, and tested how social media motivations moderated the relationship between like-seeking behaviors and emotional adjustment. The sample comprised 200 college students who completed an online self-report survey. Results showed direct relationships between motivations and emotional adjustment, as well as moderated relationships involving like-seeking behaviors. The findings suggest that motivations for social media use may be more strongly linked to emotional adjustment than the behaviors themselves.

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