Parents’ social comparisons online, distress, and self-efficacy: A longitudinal examination of predictors and effects

As technology becomes more ingrained in everyday life, people are increasingly faced with information about others. Social comparisons provide opportunities for evaluations, and thus, a chance for improvements, but they can also be sources of stress in cases where individuals feel less competent than the comparison target. Parents as a group are active comparers, but few studies have explored potential consequences of parents’ comparisons. In this study, we examined how parents’ comparisons on social media, as well as their positive and negative feelings while comparing, were associated with parental self-efficacy (PSE) and distress over time. We included 278 Swedish parents (85% mothers) of children below the age of 5. Parents offered data at three annual time points, and we performed cross-lagged panel models and mediation models including social comparisons, PSE, and distress (i.e., stress and depression). Results showed that negative feelings when comparing with others predicted decreases in PSE and increases in parents’ distress over time, and—with the exception of one significant reverse path in which depression predicted increases in parents’ general tendency to compare—there was little empirical support for effects in the opposite direction. In contrast, positive feelings when comparing, however, did not predict changes in PSE or distress. Hence, results suggest that parents’ beliefs and well-being are outcomes rather than predictors of parents’ comparisons, and negative feelings when comparing are of essential importance. These results imply that parents’ negative emotional reactions during comparisons can gradually erode their efficacy and increase distress, suggesting that such comparisons shape—not simply reflect—parental well-being.