Abstract
BackgroundProblematic Facebook use is a broader umbrella for term addictive-like symptoms, and scarce self-regulation related to Facebook use reflecting social and personal problems, and many studies have suggested that it is associated with many psychosocial problems. Locus of control (LOC) is described as a personality trait developed through social learning theory. Recently, LOC has got attention from both the patient’s and clinician’s perspectives. In addition, higher external LOC is associated with problematic Internet use. The aim was to investigate whether problematic Facebook use is associated with LOC. Four hundred twenty-one university students were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Problematic Facebook use was determined by the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale, and the participants were divided into two groups as neutral users and problematic users. Locus of control was assessed using the Locus of Control Scale, including subscales of personal control, belief in chance, the meaninglessness of the effortfulness, belief in fate, and belief in an unjust world.ResultsIn total, 333 students were eligible for the study. There were 66 students with neutral Facebook use (19.8%), and the remaining (n=267) had problematic Facebook use (80.2%). No significant difference was observed in the demographic characteristic of neutral and problematic Facebook users (p>0.05). Problematic Facebook users had significantly higher scores on the meaninglessness of the effortfulness (p<0.001), belief in fate (p=0.019), and belief in an unjust world (p=0.004) compared to the neutral Facebook users.ConclusionsThe results showed that the physiotherapy students having a problematic Facebook had significantly higher scores on the meaninglessness of the effortfulness, belief in fate, and belief in an unjust world compared to neutral Facebook users. All these negative thoughts might be a problem both for students themselves and their future patients.
Highlights
Problematic Facebook use is a broader umbrella term for addictive-like symptoms, and scarce self-regulation related to Facebook use reflecting in social and personal problems, and many studies have suggested that it is associated with many psychosocial problems [1]
The present study aimed to investigate the association between problematic Facebook use and Locus of control (LOC)
Ninety-one students were excluded from the study because of no Facebook use (n=43) and incomplete data (n=48)
Summary
Problematic Facebook use is a broader umbrella for term addictive-like symptoms, and scarce selfregulation related to Facebook use reflecting social and personal problems, and many studies have suggested that it is associated with many psychosocial problems. Problematic Facebook use is a broader umbrella term for addictive-like symptoms, and scarce self-regulation related to Facebook use reflecting in social and personal problems, and many studies have suggested that it is associated with many psychosocial problems [1]. Some studies have indicated that individuals who have external LOC spend more time on academic activities for the same job than individuals with internal LOC, and these persons have better results at school and competitions [8, 9]. This situation is associated with personality traits as low self-esteem, depressive mood, feeling of loneliness, and passive personality structure [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
