@Article{ijmhp.2026.080222,
AUTHOR = {Muheng Yu, Drew P. Cingel},
TITLE = {Exploring the Relationships between Passive Social Media Use and Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults—The Role of Trait Self-Compassion, Motivations, and Upward Social Comparison},
JOURNAL = {International Journal of Mental Health Promotion},
VOLUME = {},
YEAR = {},
NUMBER = {},
PAGES = {{pages}},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/IJMHP/online/detail/26542},
ISSN = {2049-8543},
ABSTRACT = {<b>Objectives:</b> Drawing on the motivational perspective of the social comparison theory and the relevant literature on trait self-compassion, the objective of this research article is to examine that, during young adults’ passive social media use, how their trait self-compassion is related to their self-improvement or self-destruction motivations, which in turn are related to their assimilative or contrastive upward social comparison, which correspondingly is related to their positive or negative psychological well-being. <b>Methods:</b> the current study administered a cross-sectional survey to American college students who used social media. Participants first reported their trait self-compassion. Afterwards, participants reported that, when they used social media the last time, the frequencies that they passively used social media, their self-improvement and self-destruction motivations, their assimilative and contrastive upward social comparison, and their psychological well-being. <b>Results:</b> During passive use of social media, young adults with high trait self-compassion were likely to have more self-improvement (than self-destruction) motivations, which in turn were likely to compare with others more upwardly assimilative (than contrastive), which in turn were likely to have more favorable (than unfavorable) psychological well-being. Conversely, those with more self-destruction (than self-improvement) motivations were likely to compare with others more upwardly contrastive (than assimilative), which in turn were likely to have more unfavorable (than favorable) psychological well-being. <b>Conclusions:</b> The current study makes contributions by adding the motivational perspective of the social comparison theory and the relevant literature on trait self-compassion to more comprehensive explain the associations between passive social media use, upward social comparison, and psychological well-being of young adults. Findings could also offer valuable suggestions on promoting the psychological well-being of young adult social media users.},
DOI = {10.32604/ijmhp.2026.080222}
}