ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026
Digital self-presentation inauthenticity and psychological distress among youth: a combined serial and parallel mediation model through online social comparison, digital identity confusion, and fear of missing out.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Background: Modern youth navigate a complex duality between their physical selves and curated digital personas. This study investigated the relationship between digital self-presentation inauthenticity (DSPI) and psychological distress (PD) among Malaysian youth. Integrating the dramaturgical framework, self-discrepancy theory, and social comparison theory, the research tested three primary pathways: a serial chain mediated by online social comparison (OSC) and digital identity confusion (DIC), and two parallel pathways mediated independently by OSC and fear of missing out (FoMO). Methods: A quantitative study was conducted with data collected from 689 Malaysian youth. Hypotheses were tested using a combined serial and parallel mediation model via bootstrapped mediation analysis. Results: All three indirect effects were statistically significant. The serial mediation (inauthenticity → OSC → DIC → distress) was the most robust pathway ( Conclusion: The findings identify DIC and FoMO as critical predictors of youth mental health. This study provides theoretical insights into the mechanisms of digital identity and offers preliminary directions for future research and intervention development rather than empirically supported recommendations for clinical practice.
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