An exploratory analysis of the relationship of problematic Facebook use with loneliness and self-esteem: the mediating roles of extraversion and self-presentation.

Abstract

Studies indicate that loneliness and self-esteem are predictive factors of problematic social media use. Further, it is proposed that self-presentation and extraversion may explain individual differences in online activity and problematic social media use. The present study confirms the relationship of loneliness and self-esteem with problematic Facebook use and investigates the hypothesis that these psychological factors may be linked to problematic Facebook use through their association with self-presentation and extraversion. The sample of university students consisted of 477 Facebook users, 64% females, aged 18–64. Social media usage intensity was assessed by collecting passive data on the total time spent and the number of sessions on Facebook per day for the last 6 months. The psychological factors, personality, motives and problematic Facebook use were assessed via self-report measures. Results showed that the relationship of loneliness and self-esteem with problematic Facebook use was significantly positive and negative respectively. The relationship between self-esteem and problematic Facebook use was found to be inconsistently mediated by both self-presentation and extraversion, while loneliness was partially mediated by self-presentation only. The total effect of loneliness and self-esteem remained positive and negative respectively, although extraversion and self-presentation had a suppressing effect on the relationship between self-esteem and problematic Facebook use. Further, the prevalence of ‘at-risk’ Facebook users was found to be 6.0%. It was also determined that the usage intensity of ‘at-risk’ users was significantly different from other Facebook users. These results highlight the existence of different patterns of associations linking psychological factors, usage intensity and problematic Facebook use.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03505-0.