THE IMPACT OF EMOTIONAL CONTAGION FROM SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUTH IDENTITY FORMATION, SOCIAL BEHAVIORS, AND MENTAL HEALTH: THE ROLE OF SELF-CONCEPT CLARITY

Abstract

This study evaluates how emotional contagion affects youth identity formation, mental health impacts, and social behaviors, with a special focus on self-concept clarity as a moderating variable. This study employed a cross-sectional quantitative design to survey 400 urban youth within the ages of 18-40 through emotional contagion scales, DASS21, a social behavior questionnaire, and self-concept clarity scales. Emotional contagion demonstrated a strong association with youth identity formation based on the research data (r = 0.55, p < .01), social withdrawal (r = 0.42, p < .01), social comparison (r = 0.50, p < .01), and negative mental health outcomes, including depression (r = 0.46, p < .01) and anxiety (r = 0.43, p < .01). The results of the moderation analysis indicated that diminished self-concept clarity strengthened the emotional contagion effects on youth identity processes, along with social behavior patterns (B = -0.27, β = -0.33, p = 0.011). Self-concept clarity works as a protective mechanism against negative emotional contagion while enhancing mental health outcomes. The research findings demonstrate how emotional contagion affects adolescents by demonstrating the necessity of building self-concept clarity for mental health defense. Studies on emotional contagion require ongoing research because they require extended longitudinal research and varied participant samples to evaluate long-term emotional contagion effects.