Understanding Perceptions of Problematic Facebook Use: When People Experience Negative Life Impact and a Lack of Control

While many people use social network sites to connect with friends and family, some feel that their use is problematic, seriously affecting their sleep, work, or life. Pairing a survey of 20,000 Facebook users measuring perceptions of problematic use with behavioral and demographic data, we examined Facebook activities associated with problematic use as well as the kinds of people most likely to experience it. People who feel their use is problematic are more likely to be younger, male, and going through a major life event such as a breakup. They spend more time on the platform, particularly at night, and spend proportionally more time looking at profiles and less time browsing their News Feeds. They also message their friends more frequently. While they are more likely to respond to notifications, they are also more likely to deactivate their accounts, perhaps in an effort to better manage their time. Further, they are more likely to have seen content about social media or phone addiction. Notably, people reporting problematic use rate the site as more valuable to them, highlighting the complex relationship between technology use and well-being. A better understanding of problematic Facebook use can inform the design of context-appropriate and supportive tools to help people become more in control.Comment: CHI 201

Adolescents’ perceptions of digital media’s potential to elicit jealousy, conflict and monitoring behaviors within romantic relationships

Understanding the role of digital media in adolescents’ romantic relationships is essential to the prevention of digital dating violence. This study focuses on adolescents’ perceptions of the impact of digital media on jealousy, conflict, and control within their romantic relationships. Twelve focus group interviews were conducted, among 55 secondary school students (ngirls = 28; 51% girls) between the ages of 15 and 18 years (Mage = 16.60 years; SD age = 1.21), in the Dutch-speaking community of Belgium. The respondents identified several sources of jealousy within their romantic relationships, such as online pictures of the romantic partner with others and online messaging with others. Adolescents identified several ways in which romantic partners would react when experiencing feelings of jealousy, such as contacting the person they saw as a threat or looking up the other person’s social media profiles. Along with feelings of jealousy, respondents described several monitoring behaviors, such as reading each other’s e-mails or accessing each other’s social media accounts. Adolescents also articulated several ways that they curated their social media to avoid conflict and jealousy within their romantic relationships. For instance, they adapted their social media behavior by avoiding the posting of certain pictures, or by ceasing to comment on certain content of others. The discussion section includes suggestions for future research and implications for practice, such as the need to incorporate information about e-safety into sexual and relational education and the need to have discussions with adolescents, about healthy boundaries for communication within their friendships and romantic relationships.</jats:p

How HEXACO personality traits predict different selfie-posting behaviors among adolescents and young adults

Selfies are usually defined as self-portrait photos shared on social networks. Recent studies investigated how personality traits, and specifically narcissism, can be associated to different kinds of selfies. The HEXACO model, a new theory on personality structure, investigates personality on six dimensions, among which there is the Honesty/Humility trait, found strongly and negatively associated to narcissism. Thus, this study aims to investigate how different kinds of selfies could be predicted by HEXACO personality traits, controlling for age, gender and sexual orientation. Participants were 750 adolescents and young adults (59.1% girls, N = 443) from 13 to 30 years (Mage = 20.96; SDage = 4.23) who completed an online survey composed by the Kinsey scale, three questions about the frequency of different kinds of selfies (i.e. own selfies, group selfies and selfies with partner) and 60-item Hexaco Personality Inventory-Revised. Results showed that females, adolescents and not- exclusively heterosexuals posted more own selfies, and that adolescents posted also more group selfies and selfies with partner. Moreover lower Honesty/Humility, lower Conscientiousness, higher Emotionality and higher Extraversion significantly predict both own selfies and group selfies. Finally, only lower Honesty/Humility and higher Emotionality predict selfies with partner. Results suggested a common pattern of personality traits that can explain selfies behaviors according to literature on HEXACO model. Specifically, these findings enlightened that Honesty/Humility and Emotionality traits seem to be relevant in understanding selfies. People who post more selfies are lower in Honesty/Humility, showing a strong sense of self-importance and feeling superior. Moreover, they show higher Emotionality that is related to looking for social reinforcement on social networks. Only for own and group selfies, people high in Extraversion probably feel self-confident in groups, also in the online dimension, and low extraverted people probably posted less frequently because they feel uncomfortable being at the center of attention. Finally, people with high Conscientiousness spend less time online because they consider social networks as a distraction from their tasks. Thus, HEXACO model allows to better understand which personality traits can predict different kinds of selfies. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed

The Role of Electronic Communication Processes Across the College Transition: Relations to the Maintenance and Formation of Friendships, Psychological Well-Being, and College Adjustment

Friendship experiences play a vital role in the adjustment of adolescents. Late adolescents transitioning to college negotiate the important developmental tasks of both maintaining close hometown friendships and developing new college friendships. Electronic communication has become a prevalent way to quickly and easily communicate, and friendships that incorporate electronic communication with in-person communication are higher in quality (Baiocco et al., 2011). For some adolescents, however, Internet use becomes excessive and problematic (Ha et al., 2007). The purpose of this investigation was to examine how individuals use different communication technologies with their existing hometown friends and their newer college friends, and how this relates to their friendship quality with both types of friends. The current study also explored how friendship quality relates to students’ college adjustment, whether social anxiety and depressive symptoms moderate the relationship between communication modality and friendship quality, how these psychological factors are related to problematic Internet use, and whether there are gender differences in these associations. Participants included 469 first-year undergraduate students (mean age 18.20 years, 48% male). Participants completed self-report measures online including measures of social anxiety and depressive symptoms, college adjustment, friendship quality, loneliness, and problematic Internet use. The current study revealed key findings, including that phone and in-person communication predicted college friendship quality for both genders. For males, texting and social networking site communication predicted hometown and college friendship quality, and for females, these modes of communication predicted college friendship quality. For females, college friendship quality significantly moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms and problematic Internet use, and hometown friendship quality marginally significantly moderated the relationship between social anxiety symptoms and problematic Internet use. For males, hometown friendship quality significantly moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms and problematic Internet use. Also, for the overall sample, college friendship quality marginally significantly moderated the relationship between loneliness and problematic Internet use. These findings indicate that different friendship experiences can have a protective effect in different situations. The results also reveal which types of communication may be most effective in strengthening friendships and facilitating students’ adjustment to college. Study limitations and future directions for research are discussed

Socia media use in adolescence: Longitudinal relationships with social functioning and psychopathology

Social media use and psychopathology are both prevalent during adolescence; however, the relationship between these two variables is not yet fully understood. Research on these topics is generally myopic in that it focuses on a brief window of time (e.g., cross-sectional studies), a small number of variables (e.g., hours spent per day; depressive symptoms), and uses single reporters and measures (e.g., adolescent report using a questionnaire). Extant literature shows moderate relationships between frequency of social media use and depressive symptoms; however, most studies do not use statistical methods that investigate bidirectionality or parse apart between-person and within-person effects, so effects may be overestimated and misunderstood. Additionally, research on other areas of functioning such as relationships, that may impact (or be impacted by) social media use is still in its infancy. Given these limitations, the current study investigated within-person relationships between two features of social media use (frequency and addictive use), two types of social functioning (prosocial behavior and family conflict), and two types of psychopathology (internalizing and externalizing symptoms) in a nationally representative American sample (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study). Random intercept cross-lagged panel models were used to provide clarity on directionality and within-person development. Results showed that social media variables were generally unidirectionally related to other variables. Specifically, higher social media frequency predicted more family conflict and symptoms of psychopathology. An exception to this was prosocial behavior, which predicted more frequent social media use. Social media addiction was generally related to worse outcomes, including less prosocial behavior. This study clarified longitudinal links between these variables at a within-person level and further elucidated differences between high frequency social media use and potentially addictive use

Childhood emotional abuse and problematic social networking sites use in a sample of Italian adolescents: The mediating role of deficiencies in self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning.

Childhood emotional abuse (CEA) is associated with various negative mental health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the association between CEA and problematic social networking site (SNS) use in a sample of Italian adolescents. Using structural equation modeling, the study examined whether the relationship between CEA and problematic SNS use was sequentially mediated by self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning in 1308 Italian adolescents (628 males, age range 13-19 years). A history of CEA was positively associated with problematic SNS use. Furthermore, deficiencies in self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning partially mediated the relationship between CEA and problematic SNS use. The present study provides additional insight into the psychological dynamics underpinning problematic SNS use among adolescents. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed

Childhood emotional abuse and problematic social networking sites use in a sample of Italian adolescents: The mediating role of deficiencies in self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning

Objective: Childhood emotional abuse (CEA) is associated with various negative mental health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the association between CEA and problematic social networking site (SNS) use in a sample of Italian adolescents. Design: Using structural equation modeling, the study examined whether the relationship between CEA and problematic SNS use was sequentially mediated by self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning in 1308 Italian adolescents (628 males, age range&nbsp;13–19 years). Results: A history of CEA was positively associated with problematic SNS use. Furthermore, deficiencies in self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning partially mediated the relationship between CEA and problematic SNS use. Conclusions: The present study provides additional insight into the psychological dynamics underpinning problematic SNS use among adolescents. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed

Children of the internet: An investigation into the associations between social media use, gaming, and young people’s mental health

In the context of rapid development of digital technologies and the COVID-19 pandemic, young people are increasingly socialising online. Concerns about time spent on social media and/or gaming are prominent in public discourse. These concerns commonly relate to young people’s mental health, with the suggestion that high levels of social media and gaming use might contribute to poor mental health. However, some research indicates that social media and gaming use is associated with higher social connectedness and social capital. There is a lack of longitudinal research that investigates the relationship between social media use/gaming and mental health and psychosocial outcomes. This longitudinal study aims to explore these relationships in a sample of adolescents aged 11-18, across two time points. Regression analyses are used to explore associations between social media use and measures of depression, social connectedness, and social capital. The same analyses are also used to explore associations between time spent gaming and these variables. Findings indicate that higher social media use in particular is associated with lower social connectedness and higher depressive symptomology, in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Findings for gaming use show weaker associations with depression and social variables

Internet addiction in students: prevalence and risk factors

The last decade has witnessed a large increase in research on the newly emerging mental health problem of Internet addiction. Rather than looking at Internet addiction per se, this study focused on particular activities on the Internet that might be potentially addictive and linked them to personality traits that might predispose individuals to Internet addiction. The aims of this study were (i) to assess the prevalence of clinically significant levels of Internet addiction, and to (ii) discern the interplay between personality traits and specific Internet uses in increasing the risk for Internet addiction. This cross-sectional online survey used data from 2,257 students of an English university. Results indicated that 3.2% of the students were classified as being addicted to the Internet. The included personality traits and uses of online activities explained 21.5% of the variance in Internet addiction. A combination of online shopping and neuroticism decreased the risk for Internet addiction, whereas a combination of online gaming and openness to experience increased it. In addition to this, frequent usage of online shopping and social online activities, high neuroticism and low agreeableness significantly increased the chances of being addicted to the Internet. Findings and their implications are discussed

Personality, motives and metacognitions as predictors of problematic Facebook Use in university students

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd.Facebook has become hugely popular among young people and adults all over the world, creating a new social phenomenon that has affected the communication patterns used by people to interact with each other. Although most people use Facebook wisely, a minority of users can show negative patterns of Facebook use, with negative consequences on personal psycho-social well-being, especially among young adults. The present study aims to test a model designed to assess the unique contribution of personality traits, motives for using Facebook and metacognitions on Problematic Facebook Use (PFU) among young adults. A total of 815 Italian university students participated in the study. Path analysis revealed that three of the four motives to use Facebook, and that two of the five metacognitions, predicted PFU. Moreover, only one personality trait (extraversion) appeared to be directly linked to PFU, while emotional stability indirectly influenced PFU via motives (coping and conformity) and metacognitions (negative beliefs about worry and cognitive confidence). In conclusion, motives and metacognitions predict PFU among young adults, and they should be taken into account to develop preventive measures and clinical interventions