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Social(ly Anxious) Networking: Problematic Social Networking Site Use and Fear of Evaluation

Hutcheson, Elyse F
http://orcid.org/0009-0004-6420-9206
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1681210236181486

Abstract Details

2023, Master of Arts, University of Toledo, Psychology - Clinical.
Problematic social networking site use (PSNSU) has demonstrated associations with social anxiety symptom severity across the literature; however, less is known about transdiagnostic psychopathology-related variables that may mediate relationships between PSNSU and fear of evaluation. There is an especially prominent gap regarding mediating variables between PSNSU and fear of evaluation - involving difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU). The present study builds on recent research findings that fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with PSNSU severity, and that intolerance of uncertainty is related to PSNSU severity and motives for addictive behavior. There is also a lack of literature regarding how fear of positive evaluation (FPE), a construct unique to social anxiety, relates to PSNSU severity. Given the current prevalence of SNS usage and the social nature of these sites, it is especially important to explore whether individuals who fear social evaluation use SNSs in a problematic way, and whether lesser-studied transdiagnostic constructs such as intolerance of uncertainty and difficulties in emotion regulation mediate the relationship between fear of evaluation and subsequent PSNSU. The present study explored this gap in the literature with a mediation model in which DER and IU explained relations between both FNE and FPE with PSNSU. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling (SEM), and mediation analyses indicated that IU and DER mediated the relationship between FNE and PSNSU, but did not mediate the relationship between FPE and PSNSU. These findings highlight the role of IU in PSNSU for individuals experiencing social anxiety symptoms, which has not been previously established, and provide further support for the relationship of DER with FNE and PSNSU, where DER particularly functions as a mediator of this relationship.
Jon Elhai (Committee Chair)
Peter Mezo (Committee Member)
Matthew Tull (Committee Member)
41 p.
Behavioral Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Psychology; Technology
problematic social networking site use; problematic social media use; social anxiety; social phobia; fear of evaluation; fear of negative evaluation; fear of positive evaluation; intolerance of uncertainty; difficulties in emotion regulation; SNS use; IUS; DERS;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hutcheson, E. F. (2023). Social(ly Anxious) Networking: Problematic Social Networking Site Use and Fear of Evaluation [Master's thesis, University of Toledo]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1681210236181486

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hutcheson, Elyse. Social(ly Anxious) Networking: Problematic Social Networking Site Use and Fear of Evaluation. 2023. University of Toledo, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1681210236181486.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hutcheson, Elyse. "Social(ly Anxious) Networking: Problematic Social Networking Site Use and Fear of Evaluation." Master's thesis, University of Toledo, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1681210236181486

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

toledo1681210236181486
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This open access ETD is published by University of Toledo and OhioLINK.