Facebook Intrusion as a Mediator Between Positive Capital and General Distress: A Cross-Cultural Study

Background: Social networking sites (SNSs) play an important role in many aspects of life nowadays, and it seems to be crucial to explore their impact on human well-being and functioning. The main aim of the study was to examine the mediating role of Facebook intrusion between positive capital and general distress. Positive capital was considered as comprising self-esteem, ego-resiliency, and self-control, while general distress was seen as having three dimensions: depression, anxiety, and stress. Methods: The sample consisted of N = 4,495 participants (M = 22.96 years, SD = 5.46) from 14 countries: Australia, Cyprus, Greece, Hong Kong, Lithuania, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States. We used the following methods: the Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire (FIQ), the Self-Esteem Scale (SES), the Brief Self-Control Scale (SCS), The Ego Resiliency Revised Scale and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Results: We found that Facebook intrusion was a mediator between self-esteem and general distress and between self-control and general distress. Limitations: The present study was based on a cross-sectional study, and the measures used were self-report measures. The majority of the participants were recruited using convenience sampling. Conclusions: The present findings contribute to a better understanding on how the social media have impact on individual mental health. Implications for future studies are discussed

Cultural Differences in the Hedonic Rewards of Recalling Kindness: Priming Cultural Identity with Language.

Recent theory suggests that members of interdependent (collectivist) cultures prioritize in-group happiness, whereas members of independent (individualist) cultures prioritize personal happiness (Uchida et al. Journal of Happiness Studies, 5(3), 223-239 Uchida et al., 2004). Thus, the well-being of friends and family may contribute more to the emotional experience of individuals with collectivist rather than individualist identities. We tested this hypothesis by asking participants to recall a kind act they had done to benefit either close others (e.g., family members) or distant others (e.g., strangers). Study 1 primed collectivist and individualist cultural identities by asking bicultural undergraduates (N = 357) from Hong Kong to recall kindnesses towards close versus distant others in both English and Chinese, while Study 2 compared university students in the USA (n = 106) and Hong Kong (n = 93). In Study 1, after being primed with the Chinese language (but not after being primed with English), participants reported significantly improved affect valence after recalling kind acts towards friends and family than after recalling kind acts towards strangers. Extending this result, in Study 2, respondents from Hong Kong (but not the USA) who recalled kind acts towards friends and family showed higher positive affect than those who recalled kind acts towards strangers. These findings suggest that people with collectivist cultural identities may have relatively more positive and less negative emotional experiences when they focus on prosocial interactions with close rather than weak ties.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-020-00029-3