A Moderated Mediation Model of Online Peer Validation, Contingent Self-Worth, Social Comparison, and Adolescent Anxiety
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61838/kman.jayps.6309Keywords:
online peer validation, contingent self-worth, social comparison, adolescent anxiety, moderated mediation, social mediaAbstract
Objective: This study aimed to test whether contingent self-worth mediates the association between online peer validation and adolescent anxiety and whether social comparison moderates the relationship between contingent self-worth and anxiety.
Methods and Materials: A quantitative cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with 428 adolescents aged 13–18 years enrolled in seven public secondary schools in Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. Participants completed measures of online peer validation, contingent self-worth, social comparison orientation, and anxiety, together with a demographic questionnaire. Online peer validation was assessed using an eight-item scale developed for the study, contingent self-worth was measured using externally oriented dimensions of the Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale, social comparison was assessed using the Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure, and anxiety was measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlations, multiple regression, and second-stage moderated mediation analysis with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Age, gender, and average daily social-media use were examined as covariates.
Findings: Online peer validation significantly predicted contingent self-worth, B = 0.72, SE = 0.06, β = .48, p < .001. In the anxiety model, online peer validation remained significant, B = 0.10, SE = 0.04, β = .13, p = .006, while contingent self-worth, B = 0.19, SE = 0.02, β = .36, p < .001, and social comparison, B = 0.17, SE = 0.03, β = .27, p < .001, were also significant predictors. The contingent self-worth × social comparison interaction was significant, B = 0.012, SE = 0.003, β = .15, p < .001. Conditional indirect effects increased from 0.07 at low social comparison to 0.14 at the mean and 0.20 at high social comparison. The index of moderated mediation was 0.009, 95% bootstrap CI [0.004, 0.015].
Conclusion: Online peer validation was associated with greater adolescent anxiety partly through contingent self-worth, and this indirect relationship was substantially stronger among adolescents with higher social comparison orientation, highlighting the importance of externally based self-evaluation and comparison processes in understanding digital-context anxiety.
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