Growing as social beings: How social media use for college sports is associated with college students’ group identity and collective self-esteem

Abstract

Building upon the logic of social identity theory in the context of social media, this study investigates whether and how college students' social media use for college sports is associated with their perceived college-group identity and collective self-esteem. In particular, this project tests how social media use for sporting events is related to group identity and collective self-esteem through students' communication network heterogeneity. This study also examines a moderating role of college students’ demographics, especially ethnicity and gender, in the relationship between communication network heterogeneity and college-group identity and collective self-esteem. The results show that those who often use social media for college sports are more likely to develop group identity as well as collective self-esteem, and this relationship is mediated via communication network heterogeneity. In other words, students who often use social media to talk about sports tend to often communicate with various and heterogeneous people in campus life, which leads them to feel greater levels of college-group identity and collective self-esteem. Compared to White students, non-White students have significantly higher levels of college-group identity as they often interact with heterogeneous people.