International Journal of Communication8 (2014), 2811–28331932–8036/20140005Copyright © 2014 (Jaehee Cho). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial NoDerivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at .Will Social Media Use Reduce Relative Deprivation?Systematic Analysis of Social Capital’s Mediating Effectsof Connecting Social Media Use with Relative DeprivationJAEHEE CHO1Chung-Ang University, KoreaThis study aimed at examining the relationship between social media use,communication with influential others, social capital, and relative deprivation. Itexamined the roles of two main variables—communication with influential others andsocial capital—for mediating social media use and relative deprivation. For thisexamination, a path model was tested through structural equation modeling (SEM). SEMresults indicated that communication with influential others significantly and positivelymediated the relationship between social media use and social capital—personal networkand personal trust. Moreover, it could be found that social capital significantly reducedrelative deprivation. These results indicate the considerable role of social media forreducing relative deprivation, helping the resolution of social problems related to relativedeprivation.Keywords: social media use, communication with influential others, social capital,relative deprivationIntroductionScholars have expressed much concern over the fact that various gaps between the haves andhave-nots have widened (Dettrey & Campbell, 2013). In terms of an economic gap, it has been oftenreported that the annual income share of the top 1% of the population has continued to increase(Desilver, 2013). Desilver reported that U.S. income inequality is now at its highest since 1928, showingthat the top 1% of the U.S. population, approximately, received 22.5% of all pretax income, while theremaining population received 77.5%. In addition to economic inequality, there has been an exacerbationJaehee Cho: [email protected]Date submitted: 2013–12–161This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the KoreanGovernment (NRF-2011-330- B00220).
2812 Jaehee ChoInternational Journal of Communication 8(2014)of other types of gaps such as the digital divides (DiMaggio, Hargittai, Celeste, & Shafer, 2004) or healthservice inequalities (Shim, 2008).Such increased inequalities in diverse social and political arenas accelerate the increase inindividuals’ perceptions of relative deprivation, which negatively impacts life satisfaction or well-being(Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009), physical health (Adler, Epel, Castellazzo, & Ickovics, 2000; Cattell,2001), and political participation (Valenzuela et al., 2009). Thus, many scholars and practitioners haveinvestigated the potential factors that reduce relative deprivation (D’Ambrosio & Frick, 2007; H. J. Smith,Pettigrew, Pippin, & Bialosiewicz, 2012). However, little research has focused on how interpersonalcommunication with influential others could be related to relative deprivation, even though interpersonal
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