A risky investment? Examining the outcomes of emotional investment in Instagram

The Association between Problematic Instagram Use, Psychological Distress, and Well-Being: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Recent studies have indicated the potential detrimental psychological effects of Instagram use (IU) and problematic Instagram use (PIU). PIU and IU have been associated with depression, anxiety, and negative general well-being. This study aimed to investigate that correlation through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Seven databases, including PubMed/MEDLINE, were explored in February of 2023. Studies that assessed the association between IU and/or PIU with depression, anxiety, other psychological distresses, and/or general well-being were deemed eligible. The Hunter-Schmidt random effects model and multilevel meta-analysis were applied to assess the outcomes of interest. A total of 1,927 hits were identified with 37 studies included in the quantitative analysis after removal of duplicates and screening of abstracts and full texts, with the total number of participants at 14,305. The obtained correlations between PIU and depression, anxiety, and well-being with 95% confidence interval were found to be r = 0.35, [0.25, 0.44], r = 0.31, [0.22, 0.40], r = -0.17, [-0.24, -0.10], respectively. Similarly, for IU and depression r = 0.11, [0.06, 0.16], p < 0.05 for all of the aforementioned results. The association between IU and anxiety was found to be r = 0.12, [0.04, 0.21], p < 0.05. The present meta-analysis found significant conceptual heterogeneity across the studies included due to different study designs and population heterogeneity. The results show a positive association of PIU and IU with depression, anxiety, and other psychological distress(es). There is a need for robust designed longitudinal research to explore this association.

Instagram Use and Mental Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Social Comparison

Instagram has grown in popularity among young adults and adolescents and is currently the second-favorite social network in the world. Research on its relationship to mental well-being is still relatively small and has yielded contradictory results. This study explores the relationship between time spent on Instagram and depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and disordered eating attitudes in a nonclinical sample of female Instagram users aged 18-35 years. In addition, it explores the mediating role of social comparison. A total of 1172 subjects completed a one-time-only online survey. Three different mediation analyses were performed to test the hypotheses that social comparison on Instagram mediates the association time spent on Instagram with depressive symptoms (model 1), self-esteem (model 2), and disordered eating attitudes (model 3). All three models showed that the relationship between intensity of Instagram use and the respective mental health indicator is completely mediated by the tendency for social comparison on Instagram.

Differentiation in Emotional Investments in Work Groups among Different Social Status of Construction Industry Practitioners: A Perspective from the Social Exchange Theory

The construction industry is characterized by a high level of mobility and a diverse range of practitioners from different social status, which can affect the industry’s group management processes. The exploration of the mechanisms involved is an important task for theoretical research and a challenge for management practices. This study examines three relevant aspects of work-group behavior in the construction industry from a social exchange perspective: the individual’s evaluation of the level of the emotional investment of members in the work team and their assessment of personal rewards and costs. The study of 71 construction industry workers through the development of a cost-benefit inventory questionnaire of individual-team exchange relationships revealed that their level of emotional investment in the work group can be predicted by assessing their awareness of personal rewards and costs. A further clustering algorithm revealed that an individual’s social status had a significant impact on their level of affective investment, but there was no significant correlation between an individual’s wage and their level of emotional investment in the work team. The findings deepen our understanding of group behaviors in the construction field by explaining the interactions between individuals and organizations in work groups while emphasizing the indispensable role of emotional factors in group development.