Peer relationship increasing the risk of social media addiction among Chinese adolescents who have negative emotions

The relationship between family functioning and social media addiction among university students: a moderated mediation model of depressive symptoms and peer support

BACKGROUND

Social media addiction (SMA) is an increasing problem, especially among young adults. Little is known about university students' SMA and family functioning. This study aimed to explore the mediating effect of depressive symptoms and the moderating effect of peer support in the relationship between family functioning and SMA among young adults.

METHODS

A sample of 1862 Chinese university students completed an online survey including the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), Family APGAR, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), peer support, and demographic characteristics. Hierarchical regression and moderated mediation analysis were used to test the effects and pathways among them.

RESULTS

Of the 1840 participants, 30.11% experienced SMA, 38.80% had family dysfunction and 15.98% had depressive symptoms. Hierarchical multiple regression showed better family functioning significantly predicted less SMA (β = -0.26, p < 0.001) and lower depressive symptoms (β = -0.58, p < 0.001), after adjusting for covariates. Mediation analysis verified that depressive symptoms mediated the effect of family functioning on SMA (indirect effect = -0.22, 95%CI[-0.28, -0.17]). Furthermore, the interaction of family functioning and peer support was negatively related to depressive symptoms (β= -0.03, 95% CI[-0.05, -0.01]) and the interaction of depressive symptoms and peer support was positively related to SMA (β = 0.01, 95%CI[0.004, 0.02]). Additional analysis further confirmed that peer support decreased depressive symptoms among young adults from dysfunctional families, and increased SMA behaviors in individuals with depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Better family functioning and lower depressive symptoms may contribute to less social media addiction among Chinese university students. Peer support could moderate the mediating role of depressive symptoms on social media addiction in individuals with family dysfunction.

Understanding Social Media Information Sharing in Individuals with Depression: Insights from the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Schema Activation Theory

Purpose

How individuals engage with social media can significantly impact their psychological well-being. This study examines the impact of social media interactions on mental health, grounded in the frameworks of the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Schema Activation Theory. It aims to uncover behavioral differences in information sharing between the general population and individuals with depression, while also elucidating the psychological mechanisms underlying these disparities.

Methods

A pre-experiment (N=30) and three experiments (Experiment 1a N=200, Experiment 1b N=180, Experiment 2 N=128) were executed online. These experiments investigated the joint effects of information quality, content valence, self-referential processing, and depression level on the intention to share information. The research design incorporated within-subject and between-subject methods, utilizing SPSS and SPSS Process to conduct independent sample t-tests, two-factor ANOVA analyses, mediation analyses, and moderated mediation analyses to test our hypotheses.

Results

Information quality and content valence significantly influence sharing intention. In scenarios involving low-quality information, individuals with depression are more inclined to share negative emotional content compared to the general population, and this tendency intensifies with the severity of depression. Moreover, self-referential processing acts as a mediator between emotional content and intention to share, yet this mediation effect weakens as the severity of depression rises.

Conclusion

Our study highlights the importance of promoting viewpoint diversity and breaking the echo chamber effect in social media to improve the mental health of individuals with depression. To achieve this goal, tailoring emotional content on social media could be a practical starting point for practice.

Social media addiction and academic engagement as serial mediators between social anxiety and academic performance among college students

BACKGROUND

Social anxiety has been shown to affect college students' academic performance. However, the role of social media addiction and academic engagement in this association is unclear.

METHODS

A total 2661 college students completed a self-report questionnaire including Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Utrecht Student Work Engagement Scale for Students, and the grade point average. Hayes' PROCESS macro for SPSS was employed to test the serial mediation effect.

RESULTS

Results indicated that social anxiety was negatively related to academic performance, only academic engagement played a single mediating role in the relationship between social anxiety and academic performance, meanwhile social media addiction and academic engagement acted as serial mediators between social anxiety on academic performance.

CONCLUSIONS

Social media addiction and academic engagement can explain the potential mechanisms of the association between social anxiety and academic performance, which have implications for devising intervention strategies to enhance the mental health and academic outcomes of college students.

Status and Influencing Factors of Social Media Addiction in Chinese Workers: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

BACKGROUND

Social media addiction (SMA) caused by excessive dependence on social media is becoming a global problem. At present, most of the SMA studies recruit college students as research participants, with very few studies involving workers and other age groups, especially in China.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to investigate the current status of SMA among Chinese workers and analyze its influencing factors.

METHODS

From November 1, 2022, to January 30, 2023, we conducted an anonymous web-based questionnaire survey in mainland China, and a total of 5176 participants completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire included the Social Networking Service Addiction Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey scale, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, as well as questionnaires regarding participants' social media use habits and demographic information.

RESULTS

Through strict screening, 3468 valid questionnaires were included in this study. The main findings of this study revealed the following: the average SMA score of workers was higher (mean 53.19, SD 12.04), and some of them (393/3468, 11.33%) relied heavily on social media; there were statistically significant differences in SMA scores among workers in different industries (F14,3453=3.98; P<.001); single workers (t3106=8.6; P<.001) and workers in a relationship (t2749=5.67; P<.001) had higher SMA scores than married workers, but some married workers (214/3468, 6.17%) were highly dependent on social media; the level of SMA among female workers was higher than that of male workers (t3466=3.65; P<.001), and the SMA score of workers negatively correlated with age (r=-0.22; P<.001) and positively correlated with education level (r=0.12; P<.001); the frequency of using social media for entertainment during work (r=0.33; P<.001) and the frequency of staying up late using social media (r=0.14; P<.001) were positively correlated with the level of SMA in workers; and the level of SMA in workers was significantly positively correlated with their level of burnout (r=0.35; P<.001), whereas it was significantly negatively correlated with their level of mindfulness (r=-0.55; P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study suggest that SMA among Chinese workers is relatively serious and that the SMA problem among workers requires more attention from society and academia. In particular, female workers, young workers, unmarried workers, highly educated workers, workers with bad social media habits, workers with high levels of job burnout, and workers with low levels of mindfulness were highly dependent on social media. In addition, occupation is an important influencing factor in SMA. Thus, the government should strengthen the supervision of social media companies. Medical institutions should provide health education on SMA and offer intervention programs for those addicted to social media. Workers should cultivate healthy habits while using social media.

The Application of the Metacognitive Model of Desire Thinking and Craving in Problematic Social Networking Sites Use

Cognitive models of addictive behaviours have highlighted the central role of Desire Thinking (DT) - a conscious and voluntary cognitive process orienting to prefigure images and information about a positive target-related experience - in increasing craving and maintaining addictive behaviors. The metacognitive model of DT and craving posits that metacognition plays a central role in understanding dysregulation in DT. The current study aims to test the role of metacognitions about DT, DT, and craving in the relationship between Fear of Missing Out (FoMo), boredom proneness, negative emotional reactivity and Problematic Social Network Sites Use (PSNSU). A sample of 529 participants (Mage= 32.45 ± 13.33; F = 62.9%) completed an online survey. The hypothesised model produced an adequate fit to the data and accounted for 86% of PSNSU variance. FoMO predicted positive metacognitions about DT (PMDT), which predicted DT that, in association with craving, predicted PSNSU. Boredom proneness positively predicted PSNSU directly and indirectly through the serial mediation of PMDT, DT, and craving. A direct path between negative emotional reactivity and PSNSU was found. The current findings provide preliminary evidence for applying the metacognitive model of DT and craving in PSNSU. PMDT and DT may be central cognitive processes in craving and PSNSU for individuals who experience boredom proneness and FoMo.

Factorial validity of the problematic social media use scale among Chinese adults

The Problematic Social Media Use Scale (PSMUS) is a promising self-report measure assessing problematic use of social media among adolescents and adults. However, data concerning its psychometrics are still scant, and adaptation in Eastern cultures is missing. This study aimed to test the factorial structure, internal consistency, and external validity of the Chinese version of the PSMUS in a sample of 672 adults (31% males) aged between 18 and 58. A series of confirmatory factor analyses supported the bifactor structure of the PSMUS, including a general factor and five specific independent components, namely preference for online social interactions, mood regulation, cognitive preoccupation, compulsive use, and negative outcomes. Hierarchical Omega supported the presence of a general factor, and also ancillary indexes suggested that the questionnaire is not strictly unidimensional. Subsequent structural equation modeling testing the incremental contribution of each PSMUS facet in predicting negative emotional states showed that, above and beyond the general factor, only one of the five dimensions (i.e., negative outcomes) significantly links to our criterion measure further support the use of an overall PSMU score. Moreover, results support the external validity of the questionnaire, given its positive association with depression, anxiety, and stress scores. The Chinese version of the PSMUS is a psychometric sound instrument to assess the level of PSMU in adults. Future research may evaluate the cross-cultural validity of the bifactor model and its associations with other assessment methods.

Associations between teacher-student relationship and externalizing problem behaviors among Chinese rural adolescent

The primary objective of this study is to present a fresh perspective on the correlation between teacher-student relationships and externalizing problem behaviors among adolescents. While previous research has examined this connection, there is still an insufficient understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Moreover, the crucial role of peer relationships, mental health, and parental knowledge has been overlooked. In this study, a total of 6,919 Chinese rural adolescents aged 13-19 years participated by completing an anonymous self-report questionnaire. The results show that: (1) teacher-student relationship has a protective effect against the development of externalizing problem behaviors; (2) peer relationship and mental health both have a mediating role in the relationship between teacher-student relationship and externalizing problem behaviors; (3) teacher-student relationship can indirectly affect externalizing problem behaviors through the chain mediation of peer relationship and mental health; (4) parental knowledge plays a moderating role between the teacher-student relationship and externalizing problem behaviors. As the level of parental knowledge increases among rural adolescents, the impact of the teacher-student relationship on externalizing problem behaviors becomes more pronounced; and (5) the impact of teacher-student relationship on externalizing problem behaviors has no significant gender differences. Given the study's empirical outcomes, we discuss potential explanations and advocate for a comprehensive pedagogical approach to mitigate rural adolescent externalizing behaviors. This entails nurturing teacher-student relations, fostering inclusive peer environments, emphasizing mental health literacy, and synergizing with caregivers for a holistic home-school intervention.

Mediating Roles of Fear of Missing Out and Boredom Proneness on Psychological Distress and Social Media Addiction Among Indian Adolescents

Objective

The closure of schools and other educational institutes around the world has been one of the consequences of the COVID-19 and has resulted in online teaching. To facilitate online teaching, there has been an increase in the use of smartphones and tablets among adolescents. However, such enhancement in technology use may put many adolescents at the risk of problematic use of social media. Consequently, the present study explored the direct relationship of psychological distress with social media addiction. The relationship between the two was also assessed indirectly via the fear of missing out (FoMO) and boredom proneness.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 505 Indian adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, studying in grades 7 to 12. Standardized tools (with some modifications to suit the context of the present study) were used to collect data.

Results

The results showed significant positive associations between psychological distress, social media addiction, FoMO, and boredom proneness. Psychological distress was found to be a significant predictor of social media addiction. Moreover, FoMO and boredom proneness partially mediated the relationships between psychological distress and social media addiction.

Discussion

The present study is the first to provide evidence for the specific pathways of FoMO and boredom proneness in the relationships between psychological distress and social media addiction.

A serial mediation model of social media addiction and college students' academic engagement: the role of sleep quality and fatigue

BACKGROUND

It has been documented that social media addiction (SMA) has a detrimental effect on college students' academic engagement. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are not well understood. This study aimed to determine the serial mediation effects of sleep quality and fatigue on the relationship between SMA and academic engagement among college students.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 2661 college students (43.3% males, mean age = 19.97 years). The participants completed the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Utrecht Student Work Engagement Scale for Students, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Fatigue Assessment Scale. The serial mediation effects were examined using Model 6 in the Hayes' PROCESS macro for SPSS.

RESULTS

The results showed that SMA among college students had a direct negative relationship with their academic engagement (Effect = - 0.051, 95% CI: -0.087 to - 0.015). In addition, sleep quality and fatigue mediated the relationship between SMA and academic engagement both independent and serially, with the independent mediation effect of sleep quality being - 0.031 (95% CI: -0.048 to - 0.016), the independent mediation effect of fatigue being - 0.109 (95% CI: -0.133 to - 0.088), and the serial mediation effect of sleep quality and fatigue being - 0.080 (95% CI: -0.095 to - 0.066). The total indirect effect of the three mediation paths was 80.9%.

CONCLUSIONS

Decreased academic engagement caused by SMA can be aggravated by poor sleep quality and fatigue. Strengthening supervision and intervention in social media use among college students, supplemented by attention to psychosomatic health, including sleep quality and fatigue could promote their engagement in academic work.

The Relationship between Intolerance of Uncertainty and Problematic Social Media Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Serial Mediation Model

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant interruptions to life certainty, and there has been a lack of research on the influence of uncertainty. The present research aimed to explore how intolerance of uncertainty, maladaptive coping strategies, and fear of missing out affect social media use in a Chinese community sample (N = 311) during the pandemic. Serial mediation analysis was applied, integrating the mediating role of maladaptive coping strategy and fear of missing out. Intolerance of uncertainty, maladaptive coping strategies, and fear of missing out was positively related to PSMU. Based on the mediation analysis, when age and gender were controlled, the direct effect of intolerance of uncertainty on PSMU was significant. The total indirect effect was also significant. The effect of intolerance of uncertainty on PSMU was mediated by maladaptive coping strategies and fear of missing out. Taken together, maladaptive coping strategies and fear of missing out played a serial mediating role between intolerance of uncertainty and PSMU. The findings imply that strategies to improve the tolerance of uncertainty, reduce fear of missing out, and relevant coping strategies could be potentially helpful in mitigating problematic social media use, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The influence of family incivility on cyberbullying perpetration: A moderated mediation model

Previous research has extended the stress literature by exploring the relationship between family incivility and cyberbullying perpetration, yet relatively less attention has been paid to underlying psychological mechanisms between that relationship among university students. According to the Frustration-Aggression Theory, this study examined the relationships of family incivility, cyberbullying perpetration, negative emotions and neuroticism among Chinese university students. Data were collected from 814 university students (females, N = 423; Mage = 19.96 years, SD = 3.09). The results examined the mechanism through which family incivility was significantly related to cyberbullying perpetration through the mediation of negative emotions, suggesting a strong link of stressful life events to online aggression. In addition, high levels of neuroticism moderated the relationship between family incivility and cyberbullying perpetration, as well as that between family incivility and negative emotions. The study revealed the chronic and potential impact of family incivility, underlined the interaction between stressful life events and online aggression, and put forward the intervention strategies of cyberbullying among university students.

The relationship between social anxiety and academic engagement among Chinese college students: A serial mediation model

BACKGROUND

Few studies have elucidated the mechanisms linking social anxiety and academic engagement. This study aimed to explore the link between social anxiety and academic engagement through a series of mediating effects of social media addiction and sleep quality among college students.

METHODS

2661 college students completed the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Student. The serial mediation analysis was conducted using Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 6).

RESULTS

Social anxiety had a significantly direct effect on academic engagement (c = -0.162, p < 0.001) and through three significantly indirect pathways: (1) through social media addiction (B = -0.019, 95% CI: -0.027 to -0.011), accounting for 11.7% of the total effect; (2) through poor sleep quality (B = -0.043, 95% CI: -0.052 to-0.034), accounting for 26.5% of the total effect; and (3) through the serial mediators involving in social media addiction and poor sleep quality (B = -0.007, 95% CI: -0.009 to -0.005), accounting for 4.3% of the total effect. The total mediating effect was 42.6%.

LIMITATIONS

This cross-sectional study prevented us from establishing causality.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the serial mediating role of social media addiction and sleep quality, the behavior and lifestyle factors, in the relationship between social anxiety and academic engagement. Therefore, social media addiction and sleep quality interventions for college students with social anxiety have the potential to improve their academic engagement.

Childhood emotional neglect and problematic social media use among Chinese adolescents: A moderated mediation model

Prior studies have found that emotional neglect in childhood exert a far-reaching influence on adolescent problematic behaviors. However, the effects and underlying mechanisms of childhood emotional neglect on adolescent PSMU remains largely unknown. Thus, the present study tested whether future negative time perspective (FNTP) mediated, and student-student relationship moderated, the link between childhood emotional neglect and adolescent PSMU. A sample of 842 Chinese adolescents (46.9% girls; M_age = 14.76 years; SD_age = 1.64) responded anonymously to questionnaires regarding demographic variables, childhood emotional neglect, FNTP, student-student relationship, and PSMU. The results showed that after controlling for gender and age, FNTP mediated the association between childhood emotional neglect and adolescent PSMU. Further, student-student relationship moderated the association between childhood emotional neglect and FNTP, and the positive association was stronger for adolescents with positive student-student relationship. These findings highlight those tailored approaches are necessary for the prevention and intervention of adolescent PSMU.

Measurement Invariance of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale Across Genders

Social media addiction has been a hot issue in scientific research in recent years, its antecedents and consequences have been extensively studied. Among these studies, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) is one of the most commonly used instruments. However, little is known about whether this scale has the equivalent psychometric properties for men and women. The purpose of the current study is to examine the measurement invariance (including configural invariance, metric invariance, scalar invariance, and error variance invariance) of the BSMAS across genders. In total, 1,120 participants were recruited from 5 universities. R program was applied to conduct the single-group and multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) based on the social media addiction symptom ratings. The results demonstrated that BSMAS was a valid and psychometrically robust instrument for assessing the risk of social media addiction among university students, and that the four types of measurement invariance of the BSMAS across genders were confirmed. Consequently, gender differences in the BSMAS scores are likely to reflect the genuine differences between men and women, and comparisons on the level of social media addiction of university students between gender groups can be interpreted meaningfully.

The Effects of School Climate, Parent–Child Closeness, and Peer Relations on the Problematic Internet Use of Chinese Adolescents: Testing the Mediating Role of Self-Esteem and Depression

Although previous research has investigated the associations among family factors, school factors, peer factors, and problematic Internet use, its causal direction has not been verified, particularly in the Chinese context. Using school-based data, this study aims to explore the possible causal direction among school climate, parent–child closeness, peer relations, and the problematic Internet use of Chinese adolescents. Nine hundred and sixty students in junior and senior high schools participated in a questionnaire survey. The results showed that parent–child closeness, school climate, and peer relations had a significantly direct effect on the problematic Internet use of Chinese adolescents. Meanwhile, the effects of parent–child closeness, school climate, and peer relations on problematic Internet use were mediated by self-esteem and depression. Implications are also discussed to prevent the problematic Internet use of adolescents.

Rich Get Richer: Extraversion Statistically Predicts Reduced Internet Addiction through Less Online Anonymity Preference and Extraversion Compensation

Internet addiction may arise from multiple factors and personality tendencies have been previously implicated. Prior studies have found that extraversion may be a protective factor mitigating against internet addiction, yielding a "rich-get-richer" effect. However, few studies have explored how extraversion may influence internet addiction from the perspective of online-offline integration. Drawing on a sample of 428 college students, the current study examined a serial mediation model exploring the underlying mechanisms of how extraversion may statistically predict internet addiction through online-offline integration and antecedent factors. The serial mediation model analyses indicated that extraverted internet users exhibited a weaker preference for online anonymity and less online extraversion compensation, thus formulating a higher level of online-offline integration than introverted individuals, which, in turn, appeared to reduce the risk of internet addiction. In contrast, with regard to specific components of online-offline integration, introverted internet users preferred online anonymity, which reduced their relationship integration and increased their likelihood of internet addiction; similarly, the introverted individuals were also more likely to exhibit an extraversion compensation effect. That is, they were more extraverted on the internet than in general; hence, they had a lower level of self-identity integration, resulting in a greater likelihood of experiencing internet addiction. These results highlight the importance of online-offline integration that may account for personality variations in social and psychological outcomes related to internet use, and suggest a role for online anonymity preference and extraversion compensation in influencing specific components of integration.

Status and Influencing Factors of Social Media Addiction in Chinese Medical Care Professionals: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Background

In modern society, social media addiction (SMA) has become a serious problem in many countries, including China. Almost every medical care professional has their own social media account. They are also at risk for SMA, but no SMA studies in Chinese medical care professionals have been published. This study aims to investigate the status and influencing factors of SMA among Chinese medical care professionals.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 519 physicians and nurses from two randomly selected hospitals using a questionnaire that included the Social Networking Service Addiction Scale (SNSAS), Maslach's Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), the General Self-efficacy Scale (GSES), and eight demographic datasets.

Results

This study's findings showed that most of the participants' (357,68.79%) scores reached 2.5 points (half of the highest possible score), indicating that SMA scores of Chinese medical care professionals were relatively high. Significant differences in SMA scores by age (p < 0.01), marital status (p < 0.01), professional title (p < 0.01), and working years (p < 0.01) were found. Income satisfaction (p < 0.01) and sleep quality (p < 0.05) were negatively correlated with SMA. The GSES score was not correlated with SMA (p = 0.377). Burnout significantly positively affected SMA (p < 0.01).

Conclusion

Our study found that the SMA scores of Chinese medical care professionals were relatively high. To reduce the SMA level of the medical care population, we should first start with reducing burnout, enabling medical care professionals to achieve sufficient sleep, increasing medical staff income, and providing more opportunities for promotion.