Vol. 11, Issue 5, Part E (2025)

Abstract
In an increasingly digital world, social media has become central to how individuals express, construct, and evaluate their identities. For Generation Z, who have grown up immersed in digital environments, curating an online persona is a common form of self-presentation. This study aimed to examine how personality traits influence online persona curation and how these curated identities relate to self-esteem. It also investigated whether specific dimensions of online self-presentation mediate the relationship between personality and self-esteem. The study employed a cross-sectional, correlational research design with a quantitative approach. A total of 101 Indian university students aged 18-25 years were selected through convenience sampling. Participants were administered three standardized instruments: the Big Five Inventory (BFI) to evaluate personality traits, the Presentation of Online Self Scale (POSS) to examine four facets of digital self-presentation—Ideal Self, Multiple Selves, Consistent Self, and Online Presentation Preference—and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) to measure overall self-esteem. The collected data were analysed using IBM SPSS (version 20), with parallel mediation tested through the PROCESS Macro (Model 4).