A Study on the Effect of Comparison with Others and Social Support on Life Satisfaction of Facebook

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of Facebook users’ envy of other users and social support on life satisfaction with self-esteem as a mediating variable. The survey was conducted on 1332 female and male Facebook users in five main Korean cities. The results showed that user’s envy of other people and social support had a significant effect on life satisfaction. In addition, the greater the upward comparison with others, the lower the self-esteem, which leads to lower life satisfaction; When Facebook users upward compare themselves with others, it lowers their self-esteem which in turn reduces their life satisfaction. And when users have social support, they will have better self-esteem, which leads to higher life satisfaction Finally, the implications, discussions and limitations of this study are presented.