Developmentally salient psychosocial characteristics, rumination, and compulsive social media use during the transition to college

Abstract

Background: As social media have become highly accessible, compulsive usage has become a concern. Research on compulsive social media usage is typically informed by earlier models of problematic Internet use. One limitation of many earlier models is their lack of attention to users’ developmental context. In this study, we focused on youth experiencing the transition to college, and proposed a model explaining the development of compulsive social media use by considering the developmental challenges characteristic of this period. Method: Short-term longitudinal survey data from 219 college freshmen (Mage = 18.29; 74% female; 41% White, 38% Black) were used to examine a path model, in which three psychosocial characteristics (loneliness, identity distress, tendency of performing social comparison) were hypothesized to concurrently associate with rumination, which should predict compulsive social media use. Results: Results showed that both identity distress and the tendency to perform social comparison on social media were related to higher rumination at Time 1, which, in turn, predicted higher compulsive social media use at Time 2. In contrast, loneliness was not associated with rumination at Time 1, and its indirect, prospective relationship with compulsive social media use was non-significant. Implications: We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this particular model, as well as the research direction of incorporating developmental science into studies of compulsive technology use.