The mediating role of family communication in the relationship between social media use and social comparison among adolescents

In this study, the mediating role of family communication in the relationship between social media use and social comparison was examined. The research was conducted with 358 adolescents aged between 14 and 18, residing in Istanbul. Data were collected using the Socio- Demographic Information Form, the Social Comparison Scale, the Social Media Use Scale, and the Family Communication Patterns Scale. To investigate whether there were differences in the variables based on socio-demographic characteristics, One-Way Analysis of Variance and The t-test for independent sample groups was applied. To examine the relationships among the variables, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Analysis was performed. Furthermore, Path Analysis was employed to assess the mediating role of family communication in the relationship between levels of social comparison and social media use. A weak but statistically significant positive correlation was found between the conformity orientation subdimension of family communication patterns and both the continuity and competence subdimensions of social media use. A moderate and statistically significant positive correlation was observed between the dialogue orientation subdimension of family communication and levels of social comparison. However, the relationship between the conformity orientation subdimension of family communication and social comparison levels was not statistically significant. The results revealed that the dialogue orientation dimension of family communication fully mediated the relationship between social media use and social comparison.