ABSTRACT
Most research exploring comparison processes has examined personal comparisons in which people compare themselves with others (social comparison) or with themselves at a different point in time (temporal comparisons). Often overlooked is another comparison process—interpersonal comparisons—whereby a person (the perceiver) compares a target (the principal target) with some other target (the comparison target). We introduce a theory of interpersonal comparison and explore interpersonal comparisons within families by having caregivers of children with asthma report their experiences comparing their child’s asthma and school performance with seven possible comparison targets ranging from a family member, their child in the past and future, and an abstract benchmark. We show that caregivers made interpersonal comparisons in a variety of ways and made downward interpersonal comparisons (comparing the principal target with a worse-off comparison target) more frequently than upward interpersonal comparisons (comparing the principal target with a better-off comparison target). We also show that the interpersonal comparisons have affective consequences for the caregivers, particularly when they were close to the principal target; caregivers felt good when their child compared favorably to the comparison target and bad when their child compared unfavorably. We conclude by discussing conceptual issues and directions for future research.