Sociometric Status and Digital Status Seeking as Predictors of COVID-era Offline and Digital Behaviors

• In Event: Youth Media Use Behaviors during COVID-19: Pre-Pandemic, Early Pandemic Onset, and One Year Later

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic radically changed how adolescents connected with their peer group. Although adolescents frequently used digital communication for peer connection prior to the pandemic (Ehrenreich et al., 2020), pandemic lockdowns and virtual schooling rendered these peer connections almost entirely virtual. Adolescents’ social behaviors during the pandemic may have varied based on peer group-related individual differences. Adolescents who thrived among their peers (i.e., more likable and/or popular) and who were engrossed in digital social behaviors (i.e., higher digital status seeking; Nesi & Prinstein, 2018) prior to the pandemic may have engaged in different in-person and virtual behaviors during the pandemic compared to other adolescents. We examined how pre-pandemic sociometric status (likability, popularity) and digital status seeking were related to early pandemic offline (e.g., social distancing) and digital behaviors (e.g., social media checking, importance; connection with others), and whether gender moderated these associations.
Participants included 239 racially diverse adolescents (Mage=15.39; 53% female). Self-report measures are in Table 1. At Time 1, participants were presented with a student roster, in which they nominated students who they “like the most” and “like the least”, which students are “most popular” and “least popular” (difference score computed and standardized to assess overall Likability and Popularity, respectively), and which students try the most to get social media feedback (likes, comments; standardized to assess Digital Status Seeking). Time 2 took place approximately 7 months later.
Social media checking and importance did not change over time (ps>.173). More popular adolescents reported more checking at Time 2; however, this did not hold controlling for Time 1 checking (p=.110). More popular adolescents reported higher levels of seeing their friends in-person (β=.43), took more physical risks (β=.23), and engaged in less social distancing at Time 2 (β=-.20; Table 1). Gender moderated several associations. More popular boys, not girls, were more likely to engage in physical risks (β=.40), and more likable boys, not girls, marginally less likely to engage in physical risks (β=-.17). Boys, not girls, higher in digital status seeking were less likely to follow social distancing (β=-.48) and less likely to report more online time as a positive of COVID (β=-.33). More likable girls, not boys, were less likely to report more online time as a positive of COVID (β=-.31).
In support of prior research on health risk behavior (Prinstein et al., 2011), more popular boys were more likely to take COVID health-related risks. Associations with digital status seeking could be rooted in online self-presentation gender differences. For example, boys’ photos may place greater focus on leisure activities (e.g., sports; Herring & Kapidzic, 2015) compared to girls. If boys higher in digital status seeking typically accrue more feedback on photos depicting pandemic-incompatible activities, they may be less likely to perceive greater online time as a positive of COVID, and more likely to violate social distancing guidelines to take and upload these photos. Finally, more likable girls may struggle in not seeing peers face-to-face, and therefore be less likely to perceive more online time as a positive COVID consequence.

Authors

• Kaitlyn Burnell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• Nathan Field, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Eva H Telzer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Mitchell J Prinstein, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill