Citation

Timeo S, Riva P, Paladino MP. J. Adolesc. 2020; 80: 173-181.

Affiliation

University of Trento, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Corso Bettini 84, 38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.02.010

PMID

32151853

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Social-media can contribute to building up adolescents' relationships, but they might also bring negative exclusionary experiences. Being excluded is a subtle yet hurtful form of relational aggression, which affects people's psychological wellbeing, especially during developmental stages. In this study, we (1) analyzed the effects of social-media exclusion adapting the Ostracism Online paradigm to a cohort of Italian preadolescents (Mage = 11.47, 53% girls) and (2) tested the efficacy of two potential recovery strategies (i.e., social bonds vs. social surrogate).

METHOD: Inclusionary status was manipulated through the number of "likes" participants received on a fictitious online social network. In the exclusion condition, participants received fewer likes than everyone else. In the inclusion condition, participants received a similar number of likes of other users. Then, all participants were asked to think of a significant positive relationship with a family member (social bonds), a celebrity (social surrogate), their present moment thoughts (control).

RESULTS: Preadolescents who received fewer likes than others reported higher levels of need threat (i.e., belong, self-esteem, meaningful existence, but not control) and negative emotions. Moreover, the social-bonds strategy generally brought a faster psychological recovery from social-media exclusion than the control condition. The efficacy of social-surrogates strategy was greater for boys than for girls, probably due to different choices in their favorite celebrities.

CONCLUSION: These findings show how offline life offers compensatory opportunities for adolescents' online life. When the lack of "Likes" signal exclusion on social-media, thinking of an existing social relationship help adolescents to cope with this negative experience.

Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescents; Ostracism; Social bonds; Social exclusion; Social-media