Relationships between Facebook Intensity, Friendship Contingent Self-Esteem,  and Personality in U.S. College Students

Terry F. Pettijohn II; Kimberly E. LaPiene; Terry F. Pettijohn; Amanda L. Horting

doi:10.5817/CP2012-1-2

Relationships between Facebook Intensity, Friendship Contingent Self-Esteem, and Personality in U.S. College Students

Vol.6,No.1(2012)

Terry F. Pettijohn II Kimberly E. LaPiene Terry F. Pettijohn Amanda L. Horting

https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2012-1-2

How to Cite:

Pettijohn II, T. F., LaPiene, K. E., Pettijohn, T. F., & Horting, A. L. (2012). Relationships between Facebook Intensity, Friendship Contingent Self-Esteem, and Personality in U.S. College Students. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 6(1), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2012-1-2

HTML

Abstract

U.S. college students (N = 200) completed measures of Facebook use, friendship contingent self-esteem, personality, and narcissism. Those who strongly connected their self-esteem with their quality of friendship relationships were predicted to be more active Facebook users. As predicted, a significant positive relationship between Facebook intensity and friendship contingent self-esteem was found. No significant relationships between Facebook use and personality or narcissism were discovered. Implications for how and why college students use social networking media are discussed, including connections to previous research which discuss the relationship between high friendship contingent self-esteem and risk for depressive symptoms.

Keywords:
facebook; social networking; self-esteem; personality; college student

Author biographies

Terry F. Pettijohn II

Terry F. Pettijohn II, PhD, is an associate professor of psychology at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, USA, where he teaches courses in research methods and social psychology. His research interests include interpersonal attraction, relationships, and how social preferences are influenced by social and economic factors.

Kimberly E. LaPiene

Kimberly E. LaPiene graduated with her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, USA. Her research interests are diverse but widely influenced by topics in both social psychology and human factors psychology. Her career goals are to pursue graduate studies in either social psychology or human factors psychology and become a professor.

Terry F. Pettijohn

Terry F. Pettijohn, PhD, is a professor of psychology at The Ohio State University in Marion, Ohio, USA, where he teaches courses in general and experimental psychology. His research interests include motivation, emotion, and social behavior.

Amanda L. Horting

Amanda L. Horting graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, USA. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Social Work at Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA.

References

Ames, D. R., Rose, P., & Anderson, C. P. (2006). The NPI-16 as a short measure of narcissism. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 440-450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2005.03.002

Amichai-Hamburger, Y., & Hayat, Z. (2011). The impact of the internet on the social lives of users: A representative sample from 13 countries. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 585-589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.10.009

Amichai-Hamburger, Y., & Vinitzky, G. (2010). Social network use and personality. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 1289-1295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.018

Back, M. D., Stopfer, J. M., Vazire, S., Gaddis, S., Schmukle, S. C., Egloff, B., & Gosling, S. D. (2010). Facebook profiles reflect actual personality, not self-idealization. Psychological Science, 21, 372-374. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797609360756

Bargh, J. A., & McKenna, K. A. (2004). The Internet and social life. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 573-590. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141922

Buffardi, L. E., & Campbell, W. (2008). Narcissism and social networking web sites. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1303-1314. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208320061

Cambron, M., & Acitelli, L. K. (2010). Examining the link between friendship contingent self-esteem and the self- propagating cycle of depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29, 701-726. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2010.29.6.701

Cambron, M., Acitelli, L. K., & Steinberg, L. (2010). When friends make you blue: The role of friendship contingent self-esteem in predicting self-esteem and depressive symptoms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 384-397. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167209351593

Carpenter, J. M., Green, M. C., & LaFlam, J. (2011). People or profiles: Individual differences in online social networking use. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 538-541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.11.006

Correa, T., Hinsley, A., & de Zúñiga, H. (2010). Who interacts on the web?: The intersection of users’ personality and social media use. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 247-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2009.09.003

Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). The five-factor model of personality and its relevance to personality disorders. Journal of Personality Disorders, 6, 343-359. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.1992.6.4.343

Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook 'friends:' Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 1143-1168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x

Erber, R., & Erber, M. W. (2011). Intimate relationships: Issues, theories, and research (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Facebook (2011). Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 79-83. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2009.0411

Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2003). A very brief measure of the Big Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 504-528. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00046-1

Jacobsen, W. C., & Forste, R. (2011). The wired generation: Academic and social outcomes of electronic media use among university students. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 275-280. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0135

Kalpidou, M., Costin, D., & Morris, J. (2011). The relationship between Facebook and the well-being of undergraduate college students. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 183-189. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0061

Mehdizadeh, S. (2010). Self-presentation 2.0: Narcissism and self-esteem on Facebook. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 13, 357-364. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2009.0257

Muise, A., Christofides, E., & Desmarais, S. (2009). More information than you ever wanted: Does Facebook bring out the green-eyed monster of jealousy? CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12, 441-444. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2008.0263

O'Keeffe, G. S., Clarke-Pearson, K., & Council on Communications and Media (2011). The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families. Pediatrics, 127, 800-804. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-0054

Ong, E. L., Ang, R. P., Ho, J. M., Lim, J. Y., Goh, D. H., Lee, C., & Chua, A. K. (2011). Narcissism, extraversion and adolescents’ self-presentation on Facebook. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 180-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.09.022

OnlineEducation.net (2011). Is social media ruining students? Retrieved from http://www.onlineeducation.net/social-media-and-students

Ross, C., Orr, E. S., Sisic, M., Arseneault, J. M., Simmering, M. G., & Orr, R. (2009). Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use. Computers in Human Behavior, 25, 578-586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.024

Shields, N., & Kane, J. (2011). Social and psychological correlates of Internet use among college students. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 5(1), article 2. Retrieved from http://cyberpsychology.eu/view.php?cisloclanku=2011060901&article=2

Stefanone, M. A., Lackaff, D., & Rosen, D. (2011). Contingencies of self-worth and social-networking-site behavior. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 41-49. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0049

Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2009). Social consequences of the Internet for adolescents: A decade of research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01595.x

Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J., & Schouten, A. P. (2006). Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents' well-being and social self-esteem. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9, 584-590. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2006.9.584

Zywica, J., & Danowski, J. (2008). The faces of Facebookers: Investigating social enhancement and social compensation hypotheses; predicting Facebook and offline popularity from sociability and self-esteem, and mapping the meanings of popularity with semantic networks. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 1-34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2008.01429.x

Metrics