Digital Media and Performance Orientations in Adolescents

Today’s adolescents grow up with social media. These media permit them to present themselves as
unique individuals. Although such authentic self-presentations are described as key for their identity
development, they have received little research attention. Moreover, they have univocally been
assumed to positively affect young users. Yet, a scarce number of studies together with insights from
motivational goal behavior suggests these links may be more complex as authentic self-presentations
can be motivated by differential goals. Given social media’s pivotal role in adolescents’
developmental tasks, the current PhD project addresses this gap. By introducing a multi-dimensional
conceptualization of adolescents’ authentic self-presentations on social media, this project will offer a
nuanced understanding on when and how this behavior relates to adolescent’s well-being and
identity goals. To reach this aim, literature from communication will be integrated with insights from
motivational psychology and sociology. A systematic literature review/meta-analysis will be
performed to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature of authentic self-presentations on
social media. Next, a conceptualization and operationalization of a new multi-dimensional construct
on different goal-oriented authentic self-presentations will be developed. Finally, diary research will
unravel the links between these self-presentations and the fluctuations in adolescents’ well-being and
identity goals.