Self Presentations on Facebook, Authenticity and Psychological Well-being

Abstract

The aim of the study was examining how individuals present their selves on Facebook; and how those self-presentations are related to several dimensions of their authenticity (self-alienation, acceptance of external influence and authentic life) and to their well-being (self-esteem and life satisfaction). With this aim, data was collected from 180 participants (94 students and 86 adults). In both samples, participants were found to use Facebook mostly for real-self presentations, then for the presentations for self-exploration, and next for the presentations for self-deception. Different forms of self-presentations were found to be related to life satisfaction and self-esteem only in student sample. Among students, presenting the real and the exploratory selves on Facebook were positively associated with life satisfaction, while deceptive self-presentation on Facebook was negatively associated with self-esteem. Besides, self-deception on Facebook was related to different aspects of the authenticity in two different samples. It was positively related to self-alienation and to the acceptance of external influence among students, and negatively related to the authentic life among adults.