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Category: Project

Description: This replication meta-analysis explored the robustness of a highly cited study showing that those with low self-esteem perceived benefits for self-disclosure through Facebook compared to face-to-face interactions (i.e., Forest & Wood, 2012, Study 1). Seven pre-registered direct replication attempts of this study were conducted by research teams as part of the Collaborative Replication and Education Project (CREP), and results were meta-analyzed to better understand the strength and consistency of the effects reported in the original study. Half of the original results were clearly supported: Self-esteem negatively predicted perceived safety of self-disclosure on Facebook as compared to face-to-face interactions (meta-analytic effect size = -.28, original effect size = -.31), and self-esteem did not relate to perceived opportunities for self-expression (across the seven replications, all 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for effect sizes included zero). However, two other findings received less support: Self-esteem only weakly and inconsistently predicted perceived advantages of self-disclosure on Facebook (meta analytic effect size = -.16, original effect size = -.30), and contrary to the original study, there was no evidence for self-esteem predicting perceived opportunities for connection with others on Facebook (six of the seven replication effect size CIs contained zero). The results provided further evidence regarding the original study’s generalizability and robustness. The implications of the research and its relevance to social compensation theory is presented, and considerations for future multi-site replications are proposed.