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The Long-Term Benefits of Positive Self-Presentation Via Profile fpsyg-08-01981 November 14, 2017 Time: 17:23 # 1 ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 15 November 2017 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01981 The Long-Term Benefits of Positive Self-Presentation via Profile Pictures, Number of Friends and the Initiation of Relationships on Facebook for Adolescents’ Self-Esteem and the Initiation of Offline Relationships Anna Metzler* and Herbert Scheithauer Developmental Science and Applied Developmental Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany Social networking sites are a substantial part of adolescents’ daily lives. By using a longitudinal approach the current study examined the impact of (a) positive self- presentation, (b) number of friends, and (c) the initiation of online relationships on Facebook on adolescents’ self-esteem and their initiation of offline relationships, as Edited by: well as the mediating role of positive feedback. Questionnaire data were obtained Kai S. Cortina, from 217 adolescents (68% girls, mean age 16.7 years) in two waves. Adolescents’ University of Michigan, United States positive self-presentation and number of friends were found to be related to a higher Reviewed by: Burkhard Gniewosz, frequency of receiving positive feedback, which in turn was negatively associated with University of Salzburg, Austria self-esteem. However, the number of Facebook friends had a positive impact on self- Katherine Fiori, esteem, and the initiation of online relationships positively influenced the initiation of Adelphi University, United States offline relationships over time, demonstrating that Facebook may be a training ground *Correspondence: Anna Metzler for increasing adolescents’ social skills. Implications and suggestions for future research [email protected] are provided. Specialty section: Keywords: adolescents, Facebook use, self-presentation, profile pictures, number of friends, self-esteem, This article was submitted to initiation of relationships, computer-mediated communication Developmental Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology INTRODUCTION Received: 31 July 2017 Accepted: 30 October 2017 According to the theoretical framework that defines “development as action in context,” individual Published: 15 November 2017 development entails two aspects: (a) development is seen as the outcome of one’s intentional and Citation: goal-oriented behaviors that are related to specific contextual opportunities and (b) such behaviors Metzler A and Scheithauer H (2017) evoke changes in the individual itself (Silbereisen and Eyferth, 1986). Adolescents are therefore The Long-Term Benefits of Positive considered as active constructors of their own development (Dreher and Oerter, 1986). Self-Presentation via Profile Pictures, In this perspective, investigating the opportunities of adolescents’ self-presentation and Number of Friends and the Initiation initiation of relationships on social networking sites (SNSs) for two components of of Relationships on Facebook for Adolescents’ Self-Esteem adolescents’ psychosocial development, including identity (self-esteem) and intimacy (initiation and the Initiation of Offline of relationships offline), is meaningful for several reasons. Relationships. Front. Psychol. 8:1981. First, adolescents are very likely to use SNSs such as Facebook, because they have a substantial doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01981 need to communicate and stay in contact with their friends (Peter et al., 2005) due to the Frontiers in Psychology| www.frontiersin.org 1 November 2017| Volume 8| Article 1981 fpsyg-08-01981 November 14, 2017 Time: 17:23 # 2 Metzler and Scheithauer Adolescents’ Positive Self-Presentation on Facebook rising interest in and significance of peers during adolescence Likes from one’s Facebook friends as a mediating variable into (Hartup, 1996; Harter, 1998). Second, identity development account. interacts with the need for self-presentation (Harter, 1998), with By examining the association of the usage of different Facebook satisfying this need in different ways. SNSs enable Facebook features such as self-presentation, number of friends adolescents to demonstrate who they are by means of their and the initiation of online relationships on adolescents’ self- Facebook profile and to gain positive feedback for doing so esteem and their ability to initiate relationships offline we wish (Valkenburg et al., 2006). Positive feedback is especially beneficial to illuminate the psychological process of adolescents’ SNSs use when received from one’s peers (Zimmer-Gembeck and Skinner, and its potential psychological benefits. We chose these specific 2011), which on Facebook is most likely. aspects of positive Facebook behaviors because they represent However, presenting oneself to one’s peers in a face-to-face crucial behaviors for adolescents’ psychological development in context, especially to other peers, may lead to awkward or an online environment, such as communication and interaction anxious feelings (Harter, 1999). Presenting oneself and initiating with one’s friends as well as presenting one’s identity to significant relationship online can help adolescents to overcome these others and getting feedback for doing (Hartup, 1996; Harter, uncomfortable feelings due to two features of computer-mediated 1998). communication (CMC) (Walther, 1996): (a) the asynchronicity of communication, including self-presentation, and (b) reduced Dimensions of Positive Facebook visual and auditory cues (Walther, 1996; Valkenburg and Peter, Behaviors 2011). An important consequence of these reduced cues is that Positive Self-Presentation adolescents become less concerned about how others perceive “Self-presentation can best be understood as selectively them and, therefore feel fewer inhibition in initiating contacts presenting aspects of one’s self to others” (Valkenburg and Peter, or presenting oneself (Walther, 1996; Valkenburg and Peter, 2011, p. 122). It is practiced on Facebook when an individual 2009a; Van Ouytsel et al., 2016). In sum, CMC enables young creates his or her own profile, whereby multiple options for individuals to experience a higher control over their self- presenting oneself are provided (Zhao et al., 2008; Pempek et al., presentation and relationship initiation compared to face-to-face 2009; Lee et al., 2014). interactions. In our study, we focus on self-presentation through profile Finally, today’s adolescents spend a large amount of time pictures because it has been posited as the most important on SNSs as they are the first generation of “digital natives” instrument for self-presentation on SNSs (Strano, 2008; Ivcevic (Prensky, 2001). For example, Tsitsika et al.(2014) examined and Ambady, 2013; Wu et al., 2015). The profile picture is the across six European countries that 40% of the participants (aged main representation of the profile owner (Strano, 2008; Wu et al., 14–17 years) spent two or more hours daily on SNSs. 2015). It is the picture that accompanies the name of the profile Given the great relevance of SNSs in adolescences’ daily owner and the first picture that potential new Facebook friends lives, it is important to examine the consequences of its usage. see before they send a friend request. It appears alongside every Accumulating evidence suggests beneficial effects of different chat, comment, or “Like” of the user. Adolescents also indicated aspects of SNS usage on various psychological outcomes, such as that they looked at the profile pictures on Facebook to find out increased life satisfaction (Ellison et al., 2007; Valenzuela et al., more about a potential romantic partner, as this enables them to 2009), self-esteem (Valkenburg et al., 2006; Van Zalk et al., 2014), assess the character and personality of the other user (Van Ouytsel subjective well-being (Kim and Lee, 2011; Valkenburg et al., et al., 2016). 2011), gaining social support (Quinn and Oldmeadow, 2013; As social media users are strategic in self-presentation Oh et al., 2014; Van Zalk et al., 2014; Frison and Eggermont, (van Dijck, 2013), the number of impressions of themselves 2015), developing a sense of belonging to a friendship group individuals try to create is almost limitless. Research on strategic (Quinn and Oldmeadow, 2013; Oh et al., 2014), as well as self-presentation in face-to-face environments has demonstrated reduced feelings of loneliness (Burke et al., 2010; Deters and that people are more likely to present themselves in an enhancing Mehl, 2013). manner in an attempt to make the best possible impression Our research extends previous studies in investigating the (Schlenker and Leary, 1982). Previous findings about online impact of three different aspects of one’s positive Facebook self-presentation demonstrate that in an SNS environment as use, namely positive self-presentation, number of friends well users have a tendency to present themselves positively and initiation of online relationships, on the developmental (Strano, 2008; Zhao et al., 2008; Gonzales and Hancock, 2011) dimensions of (a) self-esteem and (b) the initiation of offline as well as authentically (Yang and Brown, 2016). People present relationships. First, we investigate the long-term rather than themselves positively in the attempt to achieve social goals the cross-sectional outcomes of different positive Facebook (Schlenker and Leary, 1982), such as to get others to like behaviors. Second, we examine an adolescent instead of a college them or to convince others of their competences and (social) sample. The investigation of this age group is relevant because skills (Jones, 1990). Several studies
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