Abstract 

How did the lockdown and social media use affect the body image, eating habits, self-esteem, and mental health of adolescent girls? This paper looks at the impacts the lockdown had on social media usage, body image, and eating/exercise habits. Research shows that adolescent girls found themselves with lower self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and disordered eating habits during and after the pandemic. These changes combined with increased social media use that typically promotes unrealistic body expectations and unhealthy eating and exercise habits lead to an overall decrease in young girls’ self-esteem and body image. Based on these findings, we can formulate ways to help everyone with these unhealthy habits if we ever go into lockdown again in the future and even in our normal daily lives as well. 

On March 12th of last year, schools began shutting down saying that they would be closed for the next two weeks out of precaution against COVID-19. Those two weeks quickly turned into three, and then four, and eventually they turned into months. Those months in quarantine were incredibly tough on everyone. Because everything closed down and everyone was stuck inside, peoples’ schedules changed drastically. For Katy, a freshman in high school on the dance team, covid was incredibly difficult. Halfway through her freshman year, her school shut down because of the pandemic. She was forced to do both school online as well as her dance classes. Because she spent most of her time at home, she found herself looking at social media much more often than before. She also began feeling insecure about falling behind on her goals for dance because of the pandemic, and as a result, she followed lots of fitness and dance influencers to try to learn and improve from them. Unfortunately, she only felt more insecure about how she looked and her abilities because those influencers did not post realistic habits. Those influencers she followed promoted unhealthy eating and exercise habits to “be a better dancer”, which led Katy to adopt those habits. Katy continued to feel bad about herself as she decreased the amount she ate and increased the amount she exercised. Katy now struggles with worsened body image and disordered eating habits that negatively impact her physical and mental health. 

How did the pandemic impact our lives? During the COVID-19 lockdown, a survey of U.S. social media users found that 29.7 percent of respondents were using social media for 1-2 hours additional hours per day. This significant increase was due to the extra time spent at home during the lockdown. Everyone’s normal lives were disrupted. Students were forced to do virtual school, many adults were forced to work from home, and many others even lost their jobs due to the pandemic. The uncertainty and confusion of the pandemic led to significant amounts of stress, anxiety, and depression for everyone. 

According to researchers at the University of Michigan conducting a survey from 977 parents of teens, they reported that 1 in 3 girls (aged 13-19) experienced new or worsening anxiety. Additionally, more parents of adolescent girls observed increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and worry in their kids than parents of adolescent boys. The increase of social media usage also contributed to comparison and unrealistic expectations that worsened people’s self-esteem and body image, which often led to an increase in disordered eating and exercise habits for many. 

Specifically for adolescent girls, the comparison between before and after the pandemic shows the negative impact it had on adolescent girls’ mental health. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2018, as many as 10 in 100 adolescent girls had an eating disorder. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, around 25% of teenage girls displayed depressive symptoms. Of the total teenage population taking antidepressants, nearly two-thirds of them are adolescent girls. Therefore, a significant percentage of adolescent girls did have mental health issues and eating disorders in 2018, before the pandemic. Later studies prove that these issues worsened for many with the pandemic. Because their schedules were disrupted and they had more time at home, many adolescent girls adopted or increased their social media usage. Due to the pandemic lockdown and increased social media usage, the eating and exercise habits and in adolescent girls worsened. We can see how worsened eating and exercise habits would impact the mental health and self-esteem of adolescent girls. 

How social media usage affects the body image of young girls?

A research review that examined social media and body image concerns examined that increased social media use leads to more negative body image in young men and women. It specifically shows that appearance comparisons are the direct and important link between the usage of social media and negative body image. 

A research report examined the data from different studies. It showed the correlation between the usage of Facebook and the internalization of thin-ideal media. The study also reports that spending more time on Facebook/Myspace is associated with higher levels of body dissatisfaction and thin-idealization in adolescent girls (ages 14-22). Finally, it showed that elevated appearance exposure, such as posting or viewing, on Facebook was associated with more body dissatisfaction and thin-idealization amongst female high school students as well. 

From this data, we can conclude that heavier usage and interaction on social media such as Facebook is linked to much higher body dissatisfaction. Due to the increase of global social media and internet usage during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, we can see how the increase negatively impacted young girls. On many social media platforms, many users tend to edit, photoshop, or alter their photos in order to achieve an “ideal photo”. This is because of the abundant access to photoshop and editing apps online. This allows influencers and other social media public figures to alter their photos to make themselves look more “thin”, “attractive”, or “likable”. Too often, young girls compare themselves to unrealistic social media photos that they are convinced are the norm, and as a result, they feel depressed and dissatisfied when they don’t fit into those norms. Additionally, because young girls are at such a vulnerable age where societal influences can have a strong impact on them for life, these factors are already leaving a destructive impact that will last a long time. 

A study that surveyed 144 girls between the ages of 14-18 years old in the Netherlands and the impact normal and retouched Instagram photos had on their body image proved that the manipulated Instagram photos directly led to lower body image, specifically in those with higher social comparison tendencies. The manipulated photos were also rated more positively than the normal ones. 

This study randomly exposed participants to either 10 original Instagram photos or 10 manipulated photos. Afterward, the participants completed a survey containing various questions regarding their own self-esteem and their opinions about the photos they saw. Regarding the participants’ self-esteem, the study showed that on a scale from 0-6, girls with higher social comparison tendency that were shown manipulated photos had the lowest body image of 3.7. The data shows that 63 participants showed a lower tendency to make social comparisons, and 81 showed a higher tendency to make social comparisons. The participants also said in the survey that they could identify the manipulated photos better than they could identify the original photos. 

From this data, we can conclude that exposure to digitally manipulated photos in adolescent girls, especially those with higher social comparison tendencies, will lead to lower body image in the girls. This is because the participants rate the manipulated photos in the study “more desirable” than the natural photos. Additionally, the data also proves that the majority of the participants could tell that the manipulated photos were manipulated. This shows that the participants are aware of the photos manipulation, yet they still have the tendency to compare themselves to the fake photos. Because manipulated photos are so commonly seen in social media, and the media in general, those with higher social comparison tendencies naturally continue to compare themselves and alter their own images in order to fit into what is deemed “desirable”. As a result, the girls are left stuck with lower body image, which has led and will lead to unhealthy responses, such as depression, over-exercising, and/or disordered eating. 

How did the pandemic impact the eating and exercise habits of adolescent girls?

A study done in Australia compared those with eating disorders to the general population regarding their eating and exercise habits during the pandemic. This study launched a survey on April 1, 2020, in Australia to 5,469 participants, 180 of those self-reporting previous eating disorder history, to determine the changes in eating and exercise behaviors in people during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Between both groups, the groups with the pre-existing eating disorders and the group without pre-existing eating disorders, both groups showed an increase in disordered eating during the lockdown period. The eating disorder group showed an increase in pre-existing behaviors, and the regular group developed disordered eating habits as well. The data is divided into three main groups, the general population, eating disorder, and the anorexia nervosa subgroup.

In total, all three categories reported an overall increase in restricting habits amongst those with previous eating disorders and a slight increase in those without them. For binging, the eating disorder group and general population group both showed an overall increase in bingeing of 35%, while the anorexia nervosa subgroup reported 21% of the participants with an increase in binging habits. Exercise trends are similar for all three groups, there is a significant percentage of the population showing an increase, no difference, and less exercise. For the eating habits reports, none of the categories showed a significant percentage of the population reporting a decrease (<14%), but all of the exercising categories did. 

This study proves that due to the lockdown, those with previous eating disorders increased their disordered eating habits. Additionally, those without previous eating disorders developed disordered eating habits. There could be many reasons for this. For many, the additional time spent in quarantine left them with the time to think about eating/restricting and act on their thoughts. Another factor was the unstable and rapid changes throughout the pandemic. No one knew what the world was going to look like in a few weeks, let alone a few months, and this uncertainty led to lots of stress for many. Another factor of the pandemic was the financial and emotional uncertainty. Many feared losing jobs, housing, food, schooling, and loved ones due to COVID-19 as well. This additional stress may have led to bad coping mechanisms, like obsessing over eating, and exercise habits for the need to feel control over their lives. 

A study conducted in the UK explored how the COVID-19 lockdown influences the eating habits and body image of adolescent girls. 

There are five different categories for the survey data, and participants would rank how well they thought they fit with the categories on a scale of “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. The participants were divided into three groups for each category, no (previous) diagnosis, other diagnoses, and eating disorder diagnosis. The first set of data from the survey responses is regarding “difficulty to regulate/control eating”. According to the data, a majority of all three groups said that they agree with the statement. The second category was “more preoccupied with food and eating”. The majority of all three groups also said that they agree with this statement. The next two categories are “exercising more” and “thinking about exercise more”. A significant percentage of each of the groups said that they agree and strongly agree with both statements. The last category is “more concerned about the way I look”. A significant percentage of all three groups said they agree with this statement as well. 

Overall, the data shows that the participants with an alternate diagnosis or an eating disorder had greater difficulty with their relationships with eating, exercise, and body image. At the same time, the people that had no previous mental or ED-related diagnosis reported an increase in negative relationships with eating and exercise during the lockdown. This proves that the lockdown did have a directly negative effect on many different types of people, those with and without a mental diagnosis. While everyone was on lockdown stuck in their homes, many people had lots of spare time on their hands. Specifically for those with an eating disorder/other mental diagnoses, they obsessed over food, exercise, and body image more than they would have when they were busy with their normal lives. Those with pre-existing eating disorders dealt with increased disordered eating habits, more so than the general population and even those with other mental disorders. 

The rapid and unreliable changes in our lifestyles also contributed to increased anxiety amongst many. The fear of losing one’s job, loved ones, or one’s own life during the lockdown was incredibly stressful, which oftentimes led to harmful coping habits like disordered eating or over-exercising. 

Additionally, during the lockdown, there was an overall trend of increased social media usage. This is understandable, given that the main form of communication while in lockdown was through technology/social media. However, the concentrated exposure to misleading/glamorized images may have led people to partake in over-exercising and disordered eating habits which overall, may have worsened their mental and physical health. 

Moving forward, there are many things we can do to help those struggling with disordered eating, body image, and exercise issues if we go back into lockdown again, or even if we don’t. We can help make social media a more safe and real place for everyone. Reminding ourselves that we should not compare ourselves to social media photos is really important. The reality is, we don’t know where these photos came from, they could be photoshopped, edited, and/or posed to look “better”. Additionally, choosing to follow influencers and content creators on social media that don’t promote harmful eating and exercise habits, and blocking/reporting those that do is a great and simple way to prevent being exposed to these harmful ideas. 

If we ever go back into a lockdown again, we cannot control the outside world, but we can control how it impacts us. Trying to cope with tough events using healthier coping mechanisms, such as exercising normally or going for walks outside, is a great way to deal with any stress or anxiety. It is important to look out for ourselves and others during these difficult times, and we must remind ourselves that it is okay to not be functioning at our best because these are not normal circumstances. 

There are many factors that may have contributed to adolescent girls developing/worsening their habits during the lockdown. These factors include dramatic lifestyle changes, stress, previous eating disorders, and mental health issues, excessive social media usage, and additional time spent being stuck inside. All of these factors may have contributed to low self-esteem, body image, eating disorders, and poor mental health in adolescent girls, and many are still dealing with the lasting effects of these issues today. 

References

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AACAP. (n.d.). Eating Disorders in Teens. Eating disorders in teens. https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Teenagers-With-Eating-Disorders-002.aspx.  

Girls and teens. Girls and Teens | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA. (2021, February 5). https://adaa.org/find-help/by-demographics/women-and-young-girls/girls-and-teens.  

Fardouly, J., & Vartanian, L. R. (2015). Social Media and Body Image Concerns: Current Research and Future Directions. http://www2.psy.unsw.edu.au/Users/lvartanian/Publications/Fardouly%20&%20Vartanian%20(2016).pdf.   

Daalmans, S., Kleemans, M., Anschütz, D., & Carbaat, I. (2016, December 15). Picture perfect: The direct effect of manipulated instagram photos on body image in adolescent girls. Taylor & Francis Online. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15213269.2016.1257392.  

Phillipou, A., Meyer, D., Neill, E., Tan, E. J., Toh, W. L., Rheenen, T. E. V., & Rossell, S. L. (2020, June 1). Eating and exercise behaviors in eating disorders and the general population during THE COVID‐19 pandemic in Australia: Initial results from the COLLATE project. Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eat.23317.   

April 20, 2021 | P. (2021, April 28). How to spot teen depression during covid. Scripps Health. https://www.scripps.org/news_items/5319-teen-depression-during-covid-19-pandemic-what-to-look-for.   

Robertson, M., Duffy, F., Newman, E., Prieto Bravo, C., Ates, H. H., & Sharpe, H. (2021). Exploring changes in body image, eating and exercise during the COVID-19 lockdown: A UK survey. Appetite, 159, 105062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.105062 

About the author

Grace Julian

Grace is currently a Junior at the Episcopal Academy. She enjoys learning about history, psychology, and political science, helps run her school’s political blog, and is a leader of the community service executive board. In her free time, she enjoys playing water polo and reading.

The post Examining the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on adolescent girls appeared first on Exploratio Journal.

Background

In society, more and more people spend a large amount of their time on social media. Social media serves as a platform for people to socialize, present themselves and stay connected with their surrounding. Social media offers a variety of advantages to society, such as the convenience to communicate instantly despite geographical barriers, connect with people of the same interest and allows individuals to be constantly up to date with news and other events happening in the world. However, there are also many negative aspects that underlie the use of social media. One such emerging negative phenomena is the fear of missing out, also known as FOMO. It refers to a psychological state in which people become anxious that others within their social spheres are leading much more interesting and socially desirable lives [1]. Also, many people constantly update their information and check for new messages. The more time these people spend checking these messages and search for stimuli such as photos, videos and content, the more they are wasting their valuable time and it has even generated a rather novel mental health issue which is social media addiction [2]. Further, it has been suggested that social media use not only relates to addictive behaviours but also to distraction while working, neglect of the relationship with real-world friends and family members and hence contribute to negative social life.

Personality is a stable, organized collection of psychological traits and mechanisms in the human being that influences his or her interactions with their psychological, social and physical environment [3]. The Big 5 Personality Test is one of the most established methods to assess and describe one’s personality. According to the Big 5, people’s personality can be divided into 5 distinct personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism [4]. Extraversion is related to whether the person is more likely to express his emotions or hide his feelings and more sociable. Agreeableness has to do with the ease of getting along with someone. People high on the conscientiousness dimension tend to be disciplined and organized. Openness is related to whether the person is imaginative; preferring variety and new things. Finally, people high on neuroticism are more likely to be anxious and insecure, demonstrating a tendency of instability and inconsistent mood. 

On the one hand, personality can be related to well-being within individuals depicted in social behaviours observed in society. For example, people who are high in agreeableness would like to help others. People with high openness are more likely to listen to others’ suggestions which contribute to progress. Personality also relates to trust and interpersonal behaviours. For example, a study showed that Facebook users scoring high on extraversion and low on agreeableness tend to use more other protection strategies besides the management of privacy settings when using the social media platform [5]. Interestingly, extrovertive individuals have been found to engage more in seeking social support but also in avoidance behaviour compared to introvertive subjects [6]. As previous studies suggest, openness is positively associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors [7]. On the other hand, personality can also be related to negative behaviors. One study showed that impulsivity was related to risky behaviors in adolescence [8]. Another research indicated that people of peace type and emotional type personality are more likely to conduct unsafe behaviors during construction work [9]. Ackerman et al. (2011) found that Entitlement/ Exploitativeness tendencies were associated with anti-social behaviors that indicate that others should cater to the narcissist’s needs without any expectation of reciprocity [10]. Further, most personality traits do not relate to positive environmental behaviours, such as green IT adoption; conscientiousness was the only trait to relate to improved Green IT adoption [11]. It was also been reported that there were negative relationships between agreeableness and conscientiousness with workplace deviance [12]. Taken together, this suggests that personality can be related to positive but also negative behaviours in society. 

Method

Participants

There were 159 mixed-gender participants (78 females) aged from 16-74 from the various provinces in China.

Measures

Personality was assessed with the NEO Personality Inventory developed by Costa and Macrae in 1987 which experienced two revisions. The Chinese version of this questionnaire was revised by Zhang (1996). It consisted of 25 questions that outlined 5 different personality traits: Adaptation, Socialness, Openness, Altruism and Morality (5 question per sub-scale of personality). Responses were given on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1-5) and higher values indicate higher tendency of the respective construct (except for adaptation, in which higher numbers indicate lack of adaptation). The Cronbach’s alpha values for all sub-scales produced values of acceptable internal consistency; Adaptation: α= 0.588, Socialness: α = 0.582, Openness: α = 0.573, Altruism: α = 0.712 and Moral: α = 0.704.

Procedure

The data was collected online. The edit and release of the questionnaire were powered by www.wjx.cn and most responses were given on Wechat.

Statistical analyses

All analyses were conducted using SPSS (IBM, version 26). independent-sample t-tests and correlational analyses were used to explore the associations between personality, social media use and social behaviours. 

Results

Descriptives

The present sample consisted of 159 participants aged 33.10 years (SD = 12.64; range: 16-74) of which 81 were male (50.9%) and 78 were female (49.1%). Table 1 depicts the mean personality trait measures for the whole sample and by gender. Independent-sample t-tests were conducted to explore whether there were any gender differences in the five personality traits. The results revealed that females were significantly scoring higher in socialness (p = 0.005), altruism (p = 0.003), morality (p < 0.001) and in adaptation (p = 0.015). This suggest that females seems to be more social, more altruistic, act more according to moral standards and adapt better to situations than males. There was no difference between males and females in openness (p = 0.088).

Personality in relation to social behaviours

Five independent-sample t-tests were conducted to explore whether people who in scenarios are more helpful or not show differences in personality. The results revealed that there was a significant difference in adaptation between people who were helpful and not helpful, t(157)=4.227, p<0.001; participants who reported being more helpful in the scenarios had a tendency to have lack of adaptation (M=16.66, SD = 3.19) than participants who reported not being helpful (M = 14.58, SD = 2.65). There was no difference in socialness between helpful and not helpful participants, t(157)=-1.385, p=0.168. The results revealed that there was a significant difference in openness between people who were helpful and not helpful, t(157)=2.226, p=0.027; participants who reported being more helpful in the scenarios had a tendency to be more open (M=16.40, SD = 3.10) than participants who reported not being helpful (M = 15.27, SD = 3.16).The results revealed that there was a significant difference in altruism between people who were helpful and not helpful, t(157)=-3.362, p=0.001; participants who reported being more helpful in the scenarios had a tendency to be less altruistic (M=10.49, SD = 2.92) than participants who reported not being helpful (M = 12.20, SD = 3.38). The results revealed that there was a significant difference in moral between people who were helpful and not helpful, t(157)=-4.196, p<0.001; participants who reported being more helpful in the scenarios had a tendency to less moral(M=10.82, SD = 3.32) than participants who reported not being helpful (M = 13.13, SD = 3.46).

Personality in relation to social media

Five independent-sample t-tests were conducted to explore whether people who use WeChat and those using other platforms show differences in personality. The results revealed that there was a significant difference in socialness between people who use Wechat and those using other social platforms, t(157)=-2.449, p=0.015; participants who reported using WeChat seemed to be less  social (M = 13.92, SD = 3.09).) than participants who reported using other platforms (M=15.64, SD = 3.93). The results revealed that there was a significant difference in openness between people who use Wechat and those using other social platforms, t(157)=2.044, p=0.043; participants who reported using Wechat seemed to be more open(M=16.19, SD = 3.04) than participants who reported using other social platforms(M = 14.80, SD = 3.57). The results revealed that there was a significant difference in altruism between people who use Wechat and those using other social platforms, t(157)=-2.173, p=0.031; participants who reported using WeChat seemed to be less altruistic(M = 10.90, SD = 2.98)than participants who reported using other social platforms (M=12.40, SD = 4.04). The results revealed that there was a significant difference in morality between people who use Wechat and those using other social platforms, t(157)=-2.093, p=0.038; participants who reported  using Wechat seemed to be less moral (M = 11.44, SD = 3.45).  than participants who reported using other social platforms (M=13.04, SD = 3.83).

Correlation analyses were conducted to explore whether hours of SM use and use before sleep were related to personality.  The results showed that there was a negative correlation between lack of adaption and daily hours of SM use, r = -0.229, p = 0.004, suggesting that people who are less adaptive spent more time using social media per day. There was a positive correlation between socialness and daily hours of SM use, r = 0.201, p = 0.011, suggesting that people who are more social spent more time using social media per day. There was a positive correlation between moral and daily hours of SM use, r=0.219, p=0.006, suggesting that people who are more moral spent more time using social media per day. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between socialness and hours of SM use before sleep, r=0.222, p=0.005, suggesting that people who are more social spent more time using social media before sleep. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between morality and hours of SM use before sleep, r=0.191, p=0.016, suggesting that people are more moral spent more time using social media before sleep.

Discussion

The aim of the present study was to explore to what extent personality was related to social media use and social behaviors. From the study, it has been found that individuals who were more open, lack adaptation, were less altruistic and less moral were more likely to engage in helpful behaviors. At the same time, people who were less social, more open and less altruistic tend to use WeChat instead of other social platforms. People who were less adaptive, more moral and social spent more time using social media every day. People who were more social and moral spent more time on social media on average before sleep every day.

Through the results, it is found that helpful people are more likely to be open, lack adaptation, are less altruistic and less morality right. It is plausible that those who are open tend to conduct helpful behaviour. Openness depicts the quality of not being confined or covered; open people like to explore things and are curious about their surroundings. They like to pursue adventures, new experiences and changes.  Meanwhile, they may want to connect with new people and probably would achieve this by helping others. According to one study, there was a positive relationship between openness to experience and various dimensions of organization-citizenship-behaviours including interpersonal helping, individual initiative, personal industry and loyal boosterism [11]. Nevertheless, it is unclear why the present study found that people who lack adaptation were more likely to conduct helpful behaviours. Adaptation is the process of changing something to suit a new situation and people who lack this ability cannot blend into new environments easily. They tend to be more sensitive and reactive, neurotic and easily depressed and anxious. They can interpret normal things as threatening and have unstable emotional status. Hence, when somebody needs help, people who lack adaptation are likely to worry about whether it is a fraud or not and might expect the worst outcomes behind their behaviors. Also, it is already difficult to solve their own emotional problem, so they may have no energy left to help others. As a result, it seems unlikely that people who lack adaptation tend to conduct helpful behaviors. Altruism is showing concern for the well-being of other people rather than for yourself and it is consistent with the term “helpful”. However, according to the survey, people who conduct helpful behaviour in the scenarios were likely to be less altruistic. Furthermore, as it is morally right to help others, people who were more moral are supposed to conduct more helpful behaviours in the scenarios. Nevertheless, the results turned out to be the opposite of the initial assumption. 

Considering these three results that do not make sense, a possible explanation is suggested. People who are less altruistic and less morality right may imagine themselves to be more helpful and moral because they know being less-altruistic and showing lower moral is usually considered as a bad quality. During the scenario test, the options are of obvious direction to present whether the behaviors are helpful or less helpful. Therefore, when completing the scenario test, those who were less altruistic and less morality right want to justify themselves or want themselves to present in a better quality. At the same time, this tendency might be unconscious to the respondents, which means they actually think as themselves reacting in a  helpful manner. Therefore, these people may choose the answer that makes them seem more helpful although they may not actually behave the same way when the scenario actually happens. Another explanation might be that these people actually know they are less altruistic and less morality right. However, they also own some other personality characteristic that will make them conduct helpful behaviors at the same time, such as openness as mentioned above. The extent of influence of those good quality aspects exceeds that of their personality of being less altruistic and less morality right. As a result, they are more likely to conduct helpful behaviors under such circumstances. Finally, a third explanation can be due to potential flaws in the questionnaires for the personality test which might not depict stable personality traits in the participants. 

Several limitations need to be acknowledged. When employing questionnaires to test the personality of people, some options are repetitive so that the result of the personality test can probably be inaccurate as individuals might engage less in the items of the questionnaire.  One major flaw that was discovered post data collection period was the directions of response scales within some of the items. Specifically, responses were provided on a scale 1 to 5, depicting a degree of increasing to decreasing tendency. This suggests that individuals who scored higher values, showed a decreasing tendency of a specific item component. However, it seemed that a few items had the opposite direction of the scale, which might have made respondents confused and the results potentially inaccurate. The constructs were computed based on the original NEO Personality Inventory developed by Costa and Macrae in 1987 as per Chinese version by Zhang (1996), however, it was concluded that some of the constructs might have required reverse-coding of the scaling for the tendency of the items to be correct.

Furthermore, some descriptions of the words were not clear. For example, in the scenario test, which some scenarios seemed to assess helping behavior, there was one scenario (“someone pushes you”) which seemed to assess the extent of aggression rather than helping behaviour. Nevertheless, these scenarios are all concluded to whether the behavior is helpful or not. In addition, the sample in the present study only included limited working areas, mainly within the construction industry and it would have benefitted to incorporate a more wide-ranging sample from various industries.

To make the results be more plausible, personality can be measured from various angles, such as subjective and objective assessment. Specifically, the personality test can be conducted among a group of participants first (based on self-report measures), followed by assessment about these participants by their friends to gauge whether their perceived personalities are in line with the friend’s perceptions. If the result of the personality test does not match with both the perception of the friends and respondents themselves, it may partly explain why the results in the scenario test do not make sense. It might be because there are some flaws and mistakes in the personality test. Alternatively, more qualitative data can be conducted to explore the reasons for selecting certain options to understand these seemingly unreasonable results (for some of the findings that were unclear). Now that it was established that there is a relationship between personality and helpful behaviors, future studies could explore the relationship between personality and other good/bad behaviors such as honesty and faith/smoking and drinking. Ultimately, this is useful to know as it might provide opportunities to prevent some bad behaviors from happening in advance and select the right people to conduct good behaviors to some degree.

To conclude, the present study explored the relationship between personality, social media use and social behaviors. The findings were somewhat clear and unclear, suggesting that openness related to helpful behaviours; a finding that seems appropriate given the characteristics of openness. However, some of the other personality traits seemed to lack coherence in the way how they can relate to helpfulness and future research is warranted that investigates these associations further, with methodologically strong designs, using appropriate measures of personality and social behaviours.

References

Mentor: Dr. Bianca Serwinski, Northeastern Univeristy

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Scarlett Chai

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