The Relationship between Self-Esteem and Perfectionistic Self-Presentation on Social Media among Selected Malaysian Undergraduates

Tan, Hui Yee (2020) The Relationship between Self-Esteem and Perfectionistic Self-Presentation on Social Media among Selected Malaysian Undergraduates. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Malaysian undergraduates are suffering from low self-esteem, which would result in many detrimental effects, such as unhappiness. The increasing rates of perfectionism and social media usage among undergraduates has instigated this study to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and perfectionistic self-presentation, in context of social media. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to find the relationship between self-esteem and perfectionistic self-presentation on social media among Malaysian undergraduates, and also gender differences in the relationship. A total of 110 students participated in this study. Demographic data, and the scores from Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) and Perfectionistic Self-Presentation Scale (PSPS) were analysed. Significant relationship was found between self-esteem and perfectionistic self-presentation on social media (r = -.30, p < 0.01). No significant differences was observed in self-esteem with t (108) = .991, p > .05. Besides that, significant relationship between self-esteem and perfectionistic self-presentation on social media only existed among male samples (r= -.37, p < .01) but not for their female counterpart (r = -0.22, p >.10). The results suggest that although there is a significant relationship between self-esteem and perfectionistic self-presentation, however the relationship is only significant among male undergraduates. Sociocultural factors that influence Asian male to derive their source of self-esteem externally may account such differences. Also, the insignificant difference found in self-esteem among gender suggest that gender may not be an important factor to account for the differences in self-esteem, therefore other factors apart of gender are more probable for future research. This current study may provide insights for further researchers to look into how different aspects of social media and sociocultural factors may influence the relationship between self-esteem and perfectionistic self-presentation