Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop the scales of social comparison motives and fulfillment of social comparison motives and to investigate the effects of motives and fulfillment upon anger experience, subjective well-being, and health perception. Participants of this research were 363 students from three regional areas in Korea. On the basis of self-regulation theory of social comparisons processes, it was hypothesized that social comparison motives and fulfillment of those motives would influence upon the above three dependents variables. Through hierarchical multiple regression analysis, we obtained the following main results: First, three-way interaction effect the of self-improvement motive, the fulfillment of self-development motive, and the fulfillment of self-enhancement motive on the anger experience was significant. Second, three-way interaction effect of the self-enhancement motive, the fulfillment of self-enhancement motive, and the fulfillment of self-development motive on the subjective well-being was significant. Third, three-way interaction effect of fulfillment level of three comparison motives on health perception was also significant. The results of this study are consistent with the predictions derived form self-regulation theory of social comparison process. Finally, the limitations of this study and the implications for future studies are discussed.