Engagement in Academic-Based Comparisons on Social Networking Sites and Mental Health Outcomes among Post-secondary Students: A Cross-sectional Analysis

Background Post-secondary students are the largest age demographic using social networking sites. These students are more prone to engaging in upward academic-based comparisons since they are placed in competitive environments. Furthermore, up to 35% of Canadian post-secondary students met the diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder. There is also evidence that shows that increased social comparisons are associated with negative mental health outcomes. This study evaluates the relationship between engagement in upward academic-based comparisons on SNS and mental health outcomes including depression, anxiety, and psychological distress, among a sample of Canadian post-secondary students. Methods A subset (n = 570) of national, cross-sectional data collected from Canadian post-secondary students in 2023 was used to assess this relationship. A cross-sectional analysis examining the associations between engagement in upward academic-based comparisons on SNS and mental health outcomes was conducted. Results Engagement in upward academic-based comparisons on SNS and other comparison-based stressors were significantly related ( p  < .001). The association between engaging in upward academic-based comparisons on SNS and the type of platform engaged with was strong and significant across all platforms except Facebook ( X ²  = 4.84, p  = 0.30) and X (formerly Twitter) ( X ²  = 4.61, p  = 0.33). The use of TikTok was associated with worse mental health outcomes, whereas LinkedIn was associated with improved mental health outcomes. Finally, engagement in upward academic-based comparisons on SNS was significantly related to increased anxiety scores, but not depression or general psychological distress scores. Conclusions This study explores upward-academic-based comparison on SNS, which has not been thoroughly explored in previous literature. These findings may help to inform further exploration in this area of research. Future research should explore the effects of online academic-based comparisons on the mental health of post-secondary students in more diverse samples as well as mental health interventions that can explicitly target the specific insecurities students experience in relation to their SNS usage to bolster psychological well-being.