A Need-Satisfaction Paradox: Self-Like Behavior and Young Adults’ Mental Health
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https://doi.org/10.67148/fahss-2026-261关键词:
self-like behavior; social media; mental health; social comparison orientation; social anxiety; algorithm perception摘要
Every social media platform lets users like their own posts, yet this self-directed gesture—visible, countable, and trivially easy—has never been studied as a behavioral variable. Drawing on self-determination theory, cognitive dissonance theory, and social comparison theory, this study surveyed 527 young adult social media users (aged 18–45) and tested a newly developed five-item measure of self-like frequency in an integrated model of mediation and moderation. Self-like frequency positively predicted depressive and anxiety symptoms, weakly predicted lower life satisfaction, and left self-esteem untouched. Social comparison orientation carried roughly one third of the association with emotional symptoms; perceived social support carried none. The pathway was strongest among users high in social interaction anxiety and, more modestly, among those attuned to algorithmic curation. Liking one’s own posts thus emerges as an easily observable behavioral marker—relevant to mental health screening, media literacy education, and the question of what self-likers are waiting for.
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