Association Between Social Media and Self-Esteem Among University Students

Abstract

Social media is one of the major platforms that is influencing youngsters in the present generation. Previously there were many research studies on social media that focused on apps like Facebook and WhatsApp. However, this study will assess the current trending apps like Instagram and Snapchat. This research has attempted to establish the relationship between two variables namely social media exposure and self-esteem. It is a correlational research where the variables were tested in a natural setting. The sample for the research focused on undergraduate and postgraduate students in Bangalore who are of 18-25 years. This study follows a quantitative research design and adopts a correlational method to check association between the two variables. The demographic details of the participants and self-esteem scores were collected through Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Firstly t-tests were conducted to measure the difference in scores of social media exposure and self-esteem among male and female. t-tests were also conducted on undergraduate and postgraduate students to check differences among them. In addition to this, the Pearson correlation test was included in the analysis to check the association between social media exposure and self-esteem among the participants. Hence this study will aid the understanding of the impact of social media on the self-esteem of young adults in the current generation.