| Nowadays,with the rapid development of Internet technology,various network applications represented by social media are playing an increasingly important role in people’s lives.According to data from the "Statistics Report on the Development of the Internet in China" released on August 30,2019,social media is one of the most frequently used applications,and the use of social media is also increasing.Especially because of having more free time and high autonomy,college students are already one of the most active groups in the use of social media.In this context,the influence of social media on individual development adaptation has become a hot topic of research and many studies have been carried out.Since the university stage is a critical period for the formation of individual self-concepts,many studies in recent years have explored the impact of the use of social networking sites on college students’ self-concepts,mental health,and social adaption.According to the self-expansion model theory,the-process of individuals acquiring external resources based on the most fundamental motivation for self-growth is self-expanding.In the use of social media,individuals can access interpersonal communication and interpersonal communication and interaction,as well as fragmented and diversified information on the Internet,which can provide conditions for individual self-expansion and further affect the self-concept of college students,but this The theme lacks relevant empirical research support.At the same time,due to the convenience and anonymity of social media,the identity roles constructed by individuals in social networking sites are not completely consistent with the identity roles in individual reality.According to the theory of self-discrepancy,differences in individuals’ perception of themselves can lead to self-cognitive disorders and negative effects.Therefore,this research is based on the perspective of self-expansion.The purpose of this study is to explore the self-expansion in social media and its role in the relationship between college students’ social media use and self-concept clarity,as well as the impact of the self-discrepancy between the online and the reality through two studies.Study 1 aims to explore the concept of self-expansion in social media and its measurement tools.First,using qualitative interviews,17 college students were selected as interviewees,and data analysis was conducted by researchers’ consensus method.The results showed that:individuals perform self-expansion based on three types of behaviors:socialization,access to resources,and entertainment needs in social media.The self-expansion in social media is embodied in:(1)the enrichment of individual knowledge and resources;(2)acquiring new perspective;(3)improvement of personal ability;(4)acquisition of new identity and role.Then,according to the standard questionnaire preparation procedure,a preliminary survey was conducted on 262 college students online using a questionnaire survey method and a formal questionnaire survey was conducted on 546 college students.The results show that the formal questionnaire has 15 items,4 factors,and the total questionnaire The internal consistency coefficient is 0.951,and the internal consistency coefficient of each dimension is between 0.838-0.91 1;Confirmatory factor analysis shows that fit index of the questionnaire is good:X2/df=5.02,RSEA=0.086,CFI=0.953,GFI=0.909,which indicates that the questionnaire has good structural validity and can be an effective measurement tool for measuring self-expansion in social media.Study 2 aims to explore the self-expansion in social media and its role in the relationship between college students’ social media use and self-concept clarity,as well as the impact of the self-discrepancy between the online and the reality.A questionnaire survey was conducted with 546 college students.The results showed that:(1)Social media use significantly negatively predicts self-concept clarity,and self-expansion in social media plays a full mediating role in the impact of social media use on self-concept clarity;(2)The role of self-expansion in social media on the clarity of individual self-concepts is not regulated by the self-discrepancy between the online and the reality,while the role of social media use on the self-concept clarity is regulated.Specifically,as the level of the self-discrepancy between the online and the reality increases,the negative predictive effect of social media use on the self-concept clarity becomes increasingly significant.This study shows that self-expansion in social media refers to the process of individuals’ self-growth and improvement by acquiring new knowledge,perspectives,abilities and identities in the process of using social media.The questionnaire of the self-expansion in social media contains a total of 15 items and 4 dimensions.It is a reliable tool for measuring the extent to which college students self-expansion in social media.College students’ social media use not only directly predicts the self-concept clarity,but also influences it through the full mediating effect of self-expansion in social media.At the same time,for college students with a high level of self-discrepancy between online and reality,the social media use has a more significant impact on the self-concept clarity.This result guides college students to make appropriate use of social media for self-expansion,learns to distinguish between the identity roles of the real-self and the online-self,and avoid the ambiguity of self-concept,so as not to have a negative impact on individual psychological and social adaptation,which has theoretical and practical significance for improving the clarity of college students’ self-concept. |
