Elucidating relationships among upward social comparison on social networking sites (SNSs), depressive symptoms, and SNS addiction in college students: insights from structural equation modeling and network analysis

With the burgeoning prevalence of social networking sites (SNSs), the likelihood of upward social comparison on SNSs has concomitantly escalated, particularly among college students. Notably, upward social comparison on SNSs has been linked to negative emotions and problematic behaviors, such as depressive symptoms and SNS addiction. However, the interconnections between upward social comparison on SNSs, depressive symptoms, and SNS addiction remain underexplored. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate the relationship between upward social comparison on SNSs, depressive symptoms, and SNS addiction in college students. A total of 1,493 Chinese college students participated in this study. Structural equation modeling and network analysis were utilized to investigate the relationships among upward social comparison on SNSs, depressive symptoms, and SNS addiction at both the overall construct and individual item levels. Furthermore, for the network analysis, we utilized two methodologies: regularized partial correlation network (RPCN) and directed acyclic graph (DAG). Upward social comparison on SNSs was associated with greater depressive symptoms and SNS addiction, and depressive symptoms partially mediated the association between upward social comparison on SNSs and SNS addiction. In the RPCN, “Comparison in handling negative events” served as the central node, while “Comparison with more successful people” functioned as the bridge node. From a probabilistic priority perspective, “Comparison in handling negative events” was identified as an upstream node within the fitted DAG structure, with depressive symptoms mediating the relationship between upward social comparison on SNSs and SNS addiction. Our study indicates that depressive symptoms partially mediate the association between upward social comparison on SNSs and SNS addiction among Chinese college students in the present sample. Additionally, our analysis highlights the central, bridging, and potential activating roles of specific nodes within the networks. Collectively, these findings offer preliminary clues for future intervention development targeting Chinese college students.