The Relationship Between Attachment Style and Social Network Addiction with the Mediating Role of Personality Traits

Abstract

Background: Social network sites (SNS) addiction has recently been a major concern and a common problem worldwide that makes it essential to examine the specifications of users and identify antecedents of it. Objectives: This study aimed at examining the relationship between attachment style and social media addiction with the mediating role of personality traits. Patients and Methods: In this research, the sample population was comprised of all of the students of universities in Tehran, Iran, during the academic year of 2018 - 2019. The participants (n = 241) were selected from universities in Tehran using the conventional method. The data were collected using measure of attachment qualities (MAQ), Social Media Disorder scale (SMDS), and Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), and then the data were analyzed using the chi-square, correlation coefficient, and structural modeling tests by SPSS and LISREL software. Results: The results showed there is a significant relationship between the worry-ambivalent (r = 0.308, P < 0.05) and the disorganize-ambivalent (r = 0.322, P < 0.05) (attachment styles) and the SNS addiction. Moreover, the structural model showed that among attachment styles, the ambivalence-disorganize attachment could mediate the social network addiction based on the character dimension of self-directedness (CFI: 0.94, NFI: 0.92, RMSEA: 0.09). Conclusions: The character dimension of self-directedness can reduce the adverse effects of insecure attachment and thus reduce the risk of addiction to SNS.