واکاوی تجربه زیسته احساس ناکافی بودن در زنان دارای مقایسه اجتماعی بالا

آرش فرزانه‌پور; سمیرا قاضی‌زاده; کوشا رهنمایی

Authors

Arash Farzanehpour Department of Clinical Psychology, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran Author
Samira Ghazizadeh Department of Clinical Psychology, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran
Kousha Rahnamaei Department of Health Psychology, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran Author

Keywords:

Feeling inadequate, social comparison, women, lived experience, thematic analysis, self-worth

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the lived experience of feeling inadequate among women with high social comparison tendencies. This qualitative study was conducted using a descriptive phenomenological design. The research population consisted of women living in Tehran who reported recurrent experiences of social comparison, negative self-evaluation, and feelings of inadequacy in everyday life. Participants were selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation in age, marital status, education, and occupational background. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. A total of 18 women aged 22 to 41 years participated in the study. After obtaining informed consent, interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and imported into NVivo software for analysis. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. To enhance trustworthiness, member checking, peer review, analytic memo writing, and constant comparison of codes were used. The analysis showed that feeling inadequate among women with high social comparison tendencies is a multilayered, persistent, and context-dependent experience shaped by external standards of self-worth, repeated exposure to idealized representations of others, mental self-monitoring, hidden shame, doubts about competence, and psychological exhaustion. Five main themes emerged: “internalization of external standards of worth,” “exhaustive self-monitoring and continuous comparison,” “shame, self-blame, and devaluation of achievements,” “social relationships marked by threat and competition,” and “compensatory and avoidant coping strategies.” The findings indicate that feeling inadequate among women with high social comparison is not merely a transient emotion, but an organized lived experience centered on conditional self-worth, upward comparison, gendered pressures, and cultural norms of success and appearance. Psychological interventions should focus on strengthening self-compassion, reducing comparison-based self-evaluation, reconstructing standards of worth, and promoting media literacy.

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