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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Media Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1398801

Effects of social media use on employment anxiety among Chinese youth: The roles of upward social comparison, online social support and self-esteem

Provisionally accepted
Ting Jin Ting Jin Yanshan Chen Yanshan Chen KE ZHANG KE ZHANG *
  • Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Based on the continuous development of new media and mobile communication technologies, social media has significantly influenced people's daily thoughts and behaviors. For young people, social media is a platform for social interaction, and studies have found that social media helps Chinese graduates find employment. This study examined how social media use and its related factors affect employment anxiety. The data was collected from 1204 Chinese youth through an online survey. The results showed that: (1) the intensity of social media use had a positive predictive effect on employment anxiety; (2) upward social comparison and online social support individually separately mediate the positive relationship between the intensity of social media use and employment anxiety; and (3) selfesteem negatively moderates the effect of upward social comparison and effect of online social support on employment anxiety. The study underscores the importance of reasonable social media usage strategies, positive social perception, and healthy self-perception for fostering a positive employment mindset among youth.

    Keywords: social media use, upward social comparison, online social support, self-esteem, Employment anxiety

    Received: 12 Mar 2024; Accepted: 31 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jin, Chen and ZHANG. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: KE ZHANG, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215000, Jiangsu Province, China

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