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Vaillancourt T, Brittain H, Eriksson M, Krygsman A, Farrell AH, Davis AC, Volk AA, Arnocky S. Social Media Friendship Jealousy. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 22:14747049231225738. [PMID: 38213116 PMCID: PMC10787535 DOI: 10.1177/14747049231225738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/23/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024] Open
Abstract
A new measure to assess friendship jealousy in the context of social media was developed. This one-factor, seven-item measure was psychometrically sound, showing evidence of validity and reliability in three samples of North American adults (Study 1, n = 491; Study 2, n = 494; Study 3, n = 415) and one-, two-, and three-year stability (Study 3). Women reported more social media friendship jealousy than men (Studies 2 and 3) and younger women had the highest levels of social media friendship jealousy (compared with younger men and older men and women; Study 2). Social media friendship jealousy was associated with lower friendship quality (Study 1) and higher social media use and trait jealousy (Study 2). The relation between social media friendship jealousy and internalizing symptoms indicated positive within time associations and longitudinal bidirectional relations (Study 3). Specifically, social media friendship jealousy predicted increases in internalizing problems, and internalizing problems predicted greater social media friendship jealousy accounting for gender and trait levels of social media friendship jealousy and internalizing problems. Anxious and depressed adults may be predisposed to monitor threats to their friendships via social media and experience negative consequences because of this behavior. Although social media interactions can be associated with positive well-being and social connectedness, our results highlight that they can also undermine friendships and mental health due to jealousy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tracy Vaillancourt
- Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Heather Brittain
- Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Mollie Eriksson
- Psychology, Neuroscience, & Behaviour, Faculty of Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Amanda Krygsman
- Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Ann H. Farrell
- Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St Catharines, ON, Canada
| | - Adam C. Davis
- Department of Social Science, Canadore College, North Bay, ON, Canada
| | - Anthony A. Volk
- Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St Catharines, ON, Canada
| | - Steven Arnocky
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON, Canada
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Krygsman A, Farrell AH, Brittain H, Vaillancourt T. Anxiety symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal examination of Canadian young adults. J Anxiety Disord 2023; 99:102769. [PMID: 37703620 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2023.102769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/03/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many changes that may impact anxiety symptoms (i.e., general anxiety and somatization), particularly for young adults who were at higher risk for anxiety than older adults. We examined anxiety symptoms before (age 19, 20, 21, and 22) and during the pandemic (age 23 and 24) in a cohort of Canadian young adults (n = 396). Latent growth curve models were performed for general anxiety and somatization and the pandemic time points were estimated as structured residuals to quantify the change from participants' expected trajectories. We also examined whether fear of COVID-19 predicted the changes in anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. Results indicated that a history of general anxiety and somatization positively predicted fear of COVID-19 during the pandemic and negatively predicted pandemic change from predicted values for both general anxiety and somatization. Increased COVID-19 fear was related within time to increases in general anxiety at ages 23 and 24 and increases in somatization at age 24. We also found that the proportion of individuals in the subclinical/clinical range of somatization was higher from age 23-24, but not from age 22-23 and there were no differences for general anxiety. Results highlight the need to consider within-person change and development in evaluating anxiety symptom changes and predictors of changes in anxiety symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda Krygsman
- Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Canada
| | - Ann H Farrell
- Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, Canada
| | - Heather Brittain
- Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Canada
| | - Tracy Vaillancourt
- Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Canada; School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada.
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