The Effect of Social Media on Psychosocial Identity Development of First-Year College Students

Reed, R.I.¹, Nichols, S.L.¹, Rosner, A.R.¹, Scott, D.M.¹,
¹Bowie State University

 

Submission type

Poster only

Scheduled

Hallway, 10-07-2019, 15:30 - 17:00

Keywords

Social Media, Psychosocial Identity

Summary

Through social media platforms, people can instantly connect to others globally (Allen, Ryan, Gray, McInerney & Walter, 2014). Using the attachment theory, the study examines the relationship between social media usage and psychosocial development of first-year college students. Numerous researchers discovered that social media usage significantly correlates to greater psychosocial well-being (Yang, 2016; Yang & Brown, 2013). Increased social media frequency may also have implications on an individual’s self-esteem, communication styles, and ability to make connections with other like-minded people (Davis, 2012). This present research will be comprised of a demographic survey, Erikson's Modified Psychosocial Identity Development (MEPSI) scale (Leidy & Fisher, 1995), and a social media usage questionnaire. Based on Erikson’s Identity Development theory, college freshman are at a critical developmental milestone (Crandell, Crandell & Zanden, 2012). Participants indicating minimal social media usage will be compared to those with high usage, to determine differences in identity development. We hypothesize that higher social media usage will affect identity development negatively, ultimately leading to poor identity development compared to peers with less frequent social media usage. School psychologists worldwide can use the findings from this study to design workshops for emerging young adults everywhere, that focus on healthy social media usage.

Auteurs