TY  - EJOU
AU  - Wang, Chao 
AU  - Qu, Xinyi 

TI  - Passive social media use and meaning in life of undergraduate students: The roles of social comparison and personal relative deprivation
T2  - Journal of Psychology in Africa

PY  - 
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 1815-5626

AB  - The study examined whether passive social media use is associated with meaning in life through social comparison and personal relative deprivation. Undergraduate students (n = 347, females = 52.7%, mean age = 19.1 years, SD = 0.92 years) completed surveys on passive social media use, social comparison, personal relative deprivation and meaning in life. Results from cross-lagged analysis showed that passive social media use was not significantly associated with meaning in life in either cross-sectional or longitudinal analyses. However, passive social media use was indirectly associated with lower presence of meaning through a chained pathway involving social comparison and personal relative deprivation. Social comparison was associated with higher search for meaning, whereas personal relative deprivation was associated with lower presence of meaning. Longitudinal analyses showed that social comparison at the earlier time point was indirectly associated with lower subsequent presence of meaning via increased personal relative deprivation. These findings suggest social comparison and relative deprivation theory perspective that passive social media use is meaning-related primarily through the psychological processes of social comparison and perceived relative deprivation.
KW  - passive social media use; social comparison; personal relative deprivation; meaning in life; longitudinal design

DO  - 10.32604/jpa.2026.079509