Social Anxiety and Social Networking Service Addiction Proneness in University Students: The Mediating Effects of Experiential Avoidance and Interpersonal Problems

Abstract

Objective This study examined the mediating effects of experiential avoidance and interpersonal problems on the relationship between social anxiety and social networking service (SNS) addiction proneness.Methods An online survey was conducted on 400 university students in their 20s across Republic of Korea. The scales used in the study were the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), Korean Acceptance-Action Questionnaire-II (K-AAQ-II), Short form of the Korean Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Circumplex Scale (KIIP-SC), and SNS addiction proneness scale for university students. For data analysis, structural equation modeling was conducted, and phantom variables were used to verify the significance of individual indirect effects of the multiple mediation model.Results Social anxiety had no direct effect on SNS addiction proneness. Experiential avoidance and interpersonal problems completely mediate the relationship between social anxiety and SNS addiction proneness sequentially.Conclusion Our result suggests that experiential avoidance leads to interpersonal problems and SNS addiction proneness. In other words, it is important to alleviate experiential avoidance in treating or preventing interpersonal problems and SNS addiction proneness among university students with social anxiety.

Social anxiety and social networking service addiction proneness among university students: A moderated mediation model of narcissism and gender

“…The results of this study were consistent with previous studies in which social anxiety had a significant positive correlation with narcissism and SNS addiction proneness. Narcissism had a significant positive correlation with SNS addiction proneness [ 5 , 13 – 15 ]. In other words, this result of social anxiety supports the findings of previous research on the positive relationship between narcissism and SNS addiction proneness, while also confirming that narcissism has a positive correlation with SNS addiction proneness.…”

“…People with higher anxiety tend to use SNS more as a tool to form social relations, but ‘social’ here is merely superficial, rather than having a negative impact on interpersonal relationships in real life [ 5 , 24 ]. Thus, people with high social anxiety are more active on SNS where they can freely assert and express themselves [ 6 , 13 , 15 ]. Variables such as social anxiety and narcissism are related to interpersonal relationships [ 12 ].…”

“…Those who have high social anxiety are likely to be extremely nervous or feel anxiety and fear when having a conversation with others or in certain situations [ 12 ]. Those with high social anxiety are more active on SNS as it enables them to freely assert and express themselves, which increases SNS addiction proneness [ 13 ].…”

“…The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a model that explains the mediation effect of narcissism and the mediation effect moderated by gender on the effect of social anxiety on university students’ SNS addiction. A summary of the literature review showed that both social anxiety and narcissism affect SNS addiction [ 5 , 6 , 13 – 15 ]. Moreover, narcissism affected SNS addiction [ 14 , 15 ] and had a mediation effect on the relationship between social anxiety and SNS addiction [ 6 ].…”

Reliability and validity of the problematic TikTok Use Scale among the general population

“…Previous studies have investigated and defined Facebook ( 11 – 13 ), Twitter, and YouTube ( 14 , 15 ) addiction. Social media addiction is accepted as a subtype of internet addiction, which is one of the behavioral addiction types ( 8 , 10 , 12 ). Some recent studies emphasize that many symptoms seen in internet addiction are also included in social media addiction.…”