Psychological Development and Education ›› 2020, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (4): 486-493.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2020.04.12

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The Influence of WeChat Moments Use on Undergraduates' Depression: The Effects of Negative Social Comparison and Self-concept Clarity

WU Yang1, WU Li2,3, NIU Gengfeng2,3,4, CHEN Zhenzhen2,5, WANG Lizhong2,3   

  1. 1. School of Marxism, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074;
    2. School of psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079;
    3. Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior(CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079;
    4. School of Humanities and Social Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xian 710049;
    5. Mental Health Center, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079
  • Published:2020-07-21

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Abstract: In order to investigate the influence of Social Networking Site (SNS, WeChat Moments) on undergraduates’ Depression as well as its inner mechanism-the mediating effect of negative social comparison and moderating effect of self-concept clarity, a sample of 997 undergraduate students was recruited to complete questionnaires on SNS use, negative social comparison, self-concept clarity and Depression. Results revealed that: (1) SNS use was positively correlated with negative social comparison and Depression, while self-concept clarity was negatively correlated with them; (2) SNS use could affect depression through the mediating effect of negative social comparison; (3) The mediating effect of negative social comparison was moderated by self-concept clarity, and specifically, this mediating effect was more pronounced among undergraduate students with low level of self-concept clarity.

Key words: social networking site, undergraduate students, depression, negative social comparison, self-concept clarity

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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