Gender differences in the relationship between social media usage; social comparison and social anxiety level

It has been speculated within prior research and proposed theories that both males and females differ greatly in relation to emotional expression, Social media and its potential negative effects have long been discussed and studied since its first days of creation, however a gap in current literature on the differences of the effects of social media across gender has been highlighted and thus, this current study sought to address the potential gender differences that SNS use may have in relation to gender, particularly in relation to both Social comparison and Social anxiety levels among participants, the hypotheses presented for the current study were firstly, that higher levels of SNS usage would be associated with both higher levels of Social anxiety and Social comparison and secondly, that female participants would display higher levels of Social anxiety and Social anxiety than male participants. Participants were recruited utilising convenience sampling (N=165) and completed an online survey using the website google forms which included demographic variables such as gender, the Social Media Engagement Questionnaire, the Social Comparison Scale and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. Results of the Pearson product-moment correlation analyses found a significant yet weak relationship between SNS use and Social anxiety, while no statistically significant relationship was found for SNS use and Social comparison, a moderation analyses was also run, which garnered results displaying no statistically significant relationship between gender and either social comparison or social anxiety. The results of this study while being unable to provide support for the proposed hypotheses highlight the need for further and more extensive research into the effects of social media on gender in an Irish context