HAGE, Zakiee Castro Mufarrej    KUBLIKOWSKI, Ida. Styles of use and meanings of self-portraits on Instagram: Narratives identities of young Brazilian adults. Estud. pesqui. psicol. []. 2019, 19, 2, pp.522-539. ISSN 1808-4281.

Brazil is the second country that most accesses Instagram and its most connected public are the young adults. Focusing on the constitution of narrative identities and from a systemic perspective, the present research sought to quantitatively identify the styles of use and to understand, qualitatively, the meanings attributed by young adults to self - portraits posted on Instagram. The mixed sequential explanatory method was adopted. First, we analyzed the images posted for 10 days by 30 Brazilian men and 30 women, aged 25-29. In the next phase, six contributors, three men and three women were interviewed, selected from the number of photos posted in the covered period. Statistical analysis showed that the category of images most posted by men and women corresponds to the self-portraits. The thematic analysis of the interviews indicated that the Instagram offers greater freedom of exposure and that the participants are influenced by an outside view. The attributed meanings to the posts were:  privacy, memory, beauty and happiness. Narrative identities are shaped in a way to constitute the possible forms of expression in the network, governed by ideals of gender, beauty and happiness. Eyes that watch and "like" hampers the freedom of the biographical choices.

: Instagram; social networks; self-portraits; young adults.

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