I wish that I could be like the cool kids: The role of the malleability narrative in entertainment television and magazines on adolescents’ popularity beliefs

Abstract

The current study aimed to examine how mediated portrayals of popularity relate to adolescents’ well-being. We hypothesized that exposure to malleability messages in entertainment television and magazines related to a higher belief in the malleability of popularity, which was, in turn, believed to relate to a duality of well-being outcomes. On the one hand, such malleability beliefs might be beneficial to adolescents’ self-esteem. On the other hand, adolescents presumably experience increased feelings of pressure to be popular. The results of a survey study among 881 adolescents (M = 17.08) revealed that adolescents who are frequently exposed to malleability messages about popularity have a firmer belief in the malleability of their own popularity status, which, in its turn, positively relates to self-esteem and popularity pressure. Malleability messages might thus provide adolescents with confidence, but simultaneously induce feelings of pressure because they can, and therefore must, become popular.