Perceiving the self as authentic on social media precedes fewer mental health symptoms: A longitudinal approach

Abstract

People who perceive themselves as authentic experience fewer mental health symptoms (e.g., depression). With social media, people now have great control over whether they express themselves authentically. Prior research has observed links between perceived authenticity on social media and mental health but did not test this relationship in reference to how authentic people perceive themselves offline. Here we show through a preregistered longitudinal study of American college students (NT1 = 197) that perceived authenticity on social media precedes fewer mental health symptoms two months later (NT2 = 105). Only perceptions of authenticity on social media (not offline) predicted some aspects of later mental health (i.e., stress symptoms) independently of perceived authenticity in the other context. Perceived authenticity preceded fewer mental health symptoms more so for those who construed themselves as connected to and dependent on others (rather than psychologically independent) for perceptions of social media but not offline authenticity. The findings suggest that the outcomes of authenticity on social media for young people may deviate from outcomes of authenticity in the offline world.