engleski

Anxiety, impulsiveness and self-esteem as predictors of adolescent social network addiction

Introduction: As a very popular means of social networking, especially among adolescents and young adults, social networks (especially Facebook and Instagram) profoundly change our way of communication and social interaction. However, while healthy and conscientious usage of social networks can be beneficial, lack of control and overusing social networks can lead to addiction and impact the everyday life of a user. Social network addiction prevalence rates vary, mostly due to a wide spectrum of the instruments used and lack of clear and valid definition of the construct. Social network addiction is a significant predictor of narcissistic behavior and low self-esteem among students. Goal: Explore if anxiety, impulsiveness and lower self-esteem can be used as predictors of social network addiction. Methodology: 437 participants (high school graduates and students) filled out the questionnaires: Internet Addiction Test (IAT ; Young, 1996 ) ; Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI ; Bezinović, Lacković-Grgin, 1990) ; The Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS ; Tangney, Baumeister and Boone 2004) i The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI- O- scale ; Spielberger, 2000). Regression analysis was used. Results: Regression analysis confirmed social network addiction can be predicted based on the level of self-esteem, anxiety as a personality trait and impulsiveness as suggested by the multiple correlation coefficient. Anxiety as a personality trait and impulsiveness were significant predictors of social network addiction. Conclusion: Although social networks are a valuable tool for entertainment and relationship management, they can lead to addictive behavior among adolescents with lower self-control as well as among those that have anxiety as a personality trait.

adolescents ; network addiction

nije evidentirano