| Summary: | 碩士 === 亞洲大學 === 心理學系 === 104 === Background
Facebook addiction (FBA) has been described as a problematic use of social networking site among adolescents. In Taiwan, the prevalence of high risk students for Facebook addiction was found to be 10.6 percent among junior high students. Previous researches have shown the positive correlation between Neuroticism and Facebook Addiction, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Moreover, past studies showed that personality predicted Internet addiction via positive outcome expectancy of Internet use, but the relation among Neuroticism, positive outcome expectancy of Facebook use (POEFU) and FBA are poorly understood. In addition, previous studies indicated that the interaction between social anxiety and cognitive expectancy could predict addictive behaviors. Thus, this study aimed to explore whether POEFU would mediate the association of Neuroticism with FBA, and social anxiety moderated the mediation of POEFU in the relationship between Neuroticism and FBA.
Hypotheses
Based on previous research, the hypotheses after controlling for Facebook Addiction (Time: T1) and gender variable were as follows: (i) Facebook use positive expectancy (T1) would mediate the effect of Neuroticism (T1) on Facebook Addiction (Time 2: T2); (ii) Social anxiety (T2) would moderate the strength of the mediated effect of Facebook use expectancy (T1) in associating Neuroticism (T1) with Facebook Addiction (T2), such that the mediated effect would weaken when social anxiety is low.
Methods
This study tested hypotheses with a four-month longitudinal design in a sample of 1261 junior high school students. All participants completed the Facebook Addiction Scale, Shortened Chinese version of FFI, Positive outcome expectancy of Facebook use questionnaire (POEFUQ), and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Data analysis was performed by using SPSS version 22.0, and the PROCESS was used to exam the hypothesized model.
Results
Results showed that Facebook use positive expectancy (T1) mediated the effect of Neuroticism (T1) on Facebook Addiction (T2). Further moderated mediation analyses revealed that social anxiety (T2) moderated the strength of the mediated effect of Neuroticism (T1) on Facebook Addiction (T2) via Facebook use expectancy (T1).
Discussion
The present study used a longitudinal design to illuminate the role of Neuroticism, POEFU and social anxiety on FBA among junior high students in Taiwan. Our findings provided empirical evidence to support the mediating role of POEFU in associating Neuroticism with FBA, and the role of social anxiety in moderating such mediating relationship.
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