Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies

Aims: This study examined whether short-video exposure and engagement are concurrently associated with an identity-affirming pattern involving cultural identity and self-esteem and a comparison-pressure pattern involving social comparison, and how these variables relate to psychological well-being among tertiary students.

Study Design: Cross-sectional online survey.

Place and Duration of Study: Tertiary students in Jiangxi Province, China, between June 2026 and August 2026.

Methodology: A total of 250 valid responses were obtained from students aged 18–30 through convenience and snowball sampling. Analyses included descriptive statistics, internal-consistency assessment, a supplementary parcel-based confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson correlations, and regression-based bootstrap tests of indirect associations with 5,000 resamples.

Results: Short-video exposure was positively associated with cultural identity (r = .46, P < .001), social comparison (r = .38, P < .001), and psychological well-being (r = .26, P < .001). Cultural identity (r = .45) and self-esteem (r = .52) were positively associated with well-being, whereas social comparison was negatively associated with well-being (r = −.31), all P < .001. Bootstrap estimates were positive through cultural identity (.106) and through the serial sequence of cultural identity and self-esteem (.067), but negative through social comparison (−.103).

Conclusion: Short-video participation was associated with concurrent identity-affirming and comparison-pressure patterns. Because the study is cross-sectional and uses a broad self-reported exposure index, the findings describe an association structure and do not establish causal mediation.