Dispositional and Social Correlates of Digital Status Seeking Among Adolescents

Social media have transformed peer relationships among adolescents, providing new avenues to attain online status indicators such as likes and followers. This study aimed to explore the associations between various dispositional and social factors and digital status-seeking behaviors among a sample of adolescents (N = 731; Mage = 14.69, 48.7 percent female), as well as explore potential gender differences in the examined associations. Sociometric nominations for digital status-seeking, likeability, and popularity were collected, and participants self-reported their social media use frequency, awareness of social media positivity bias, reward sensitivity, and gender. The findings revealed a positive relationship between sociometric popularity and digital status-seeking, whereas likeability displayed a negative association with digital status-seeking. These results emphasize the importance of distinguishing between different social status indicators in understanding online behaviors. Reward sensitivity did not show a significant link to digital status-seeking, and awareness of social media positivity bias heightened the likelihood of being nominated as a digital status-seeker. These findings underscore the need for further research, especially focusing on girls who appear to be more vulnerable to engaging in digital status-seeking behaviors.