Exploring the Role of Social Media Use Motives, Psychological Well-Being, Self-Esteem, and Affect in Problematic Social Media Use

Bruno Schivinski; Magdalena Brzozowska-Woś; Ellena Stansbury; Jason Satel; Christian Montag; Halley M Pontes

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.617140

Exploring the Role of Social Media Use Motives, Psychological Well-Being, Self-Esteem, and Affect in Problematic Social Media Use

Front Psychol. 2020 Dec 16:11:617140. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.617140. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Bruno Schivinski^{1

2}, Magdalena Brzozowska-Woś³, Ellena Stansbury⁴, Jason Satel^{2

5}, Christian Montag⁶, Halley M Pontes^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
² The International Cyberpsychology and Addictions Research Laboratory (iCARL), University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS, Australia.
³ Department of Marketing, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland.
⁴ Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
⁵ School of Psychological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS, Australia.
⁶ Department of Molecular Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.

Abstract

Given recent advances in technology, connectivity, and the popularity of social media platforms, recent literature has devoted great attention to problematic Facebook use. However, exploring the potential predictors of problematic social media use beyond Facebook use has become paramount given the increasing popularity of multiple alternative platforms. In this study, a sample of 584 social media users (M _age = 32.28 years; 67.81% female) was recruited to complete an online survey assessing sociodemographic characteristics, patterns, and preferences of social media use, problematic social media use (PSMU), social media use motives, psychological well-being, self-esteem, and positive and negative affect. Results indicated that 6.68% (n = 39) of all respondents could be potentially classed as problematic users. Moreover, further analysis indicated that intrapersonal motive (β = 0.38), negative affect (β = 0.22), daily social media use (β = 0.18), surveillance motive (β = 0.12), and positive affect (β = -0.09) each predicted PSMU. These variables accounted for about 37% of the total variance in PSMU, with intrapersonal motive driving the greatest predictive contribution, over and above the effects of patterns of social media use and sociodemographic variables. These findings contribute to the increasing literature on PSMU. The results of this study are discussed in light of the existing literature on PSMU.

Keywords: affect; problematic behavior; problematic consumer behavior; problematic social media use; self-esteem; social media motives; well-being.