IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i7p2518-d342241.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Problematic Social-Networks-Use in German Children and Adolescents—The Interaction of Need to Belong, Online Self-Regulative Competences, and Age

Author

Listed:
  • Sina Ostendorf

    (Department of General Psychology: Cognition and Center for Behavioral Addiction Research (CeBAR), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany)

  • Elisa Wegmann

    (Department of General Psychology: Cognition and Center for Behavioral Addiction Research (CeBAR), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany)

  • Matthias Brand

    (Department of General Psychology: Cognition and Center for Behavioral Addiction Research (CeBAR), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
    Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 45141 Essen, Germany)

Abstract

Adolescents nowadays spend much time communicating via social networks. Recent investigations also report a noticeable proportion showing a problematic usage behavior, underlining the importance of better understanding its development and maintenance in young individuals. Theoretical views on Internet-use disorders assume that specific predispositions and needs can contribute to addictive behaviors in interaction with further aspects including Internet-related cognitive biases. This study focuses on vulnerable individuals due to their age and investigates interactions between possible risk (need to belong, NTB) and protective factors (online self-regulative competences, OSRC). Participants ( N = 466) between 10 and 17 years answered questionnaires assessing social-networks-use disorder symptoms, NTB, and OSRC. Moderated regression analysis revealed significant effects of age, NTB, and OSRC. Three-way interaction was also significant (potentially mainly caused by females), with highest social-networks-use disorder symptoms found for individuals with high NTB and low OSRC, especially when older. With high OSRC, symptoms were significantly lower for both younger and older individuals having high NTB. However, even if NTB was low, older individuals showed high social-networks-use disorder symptoms if their OSRC were low. The results highlight the importance of improving specific competences to prevent problematic usage behaviors, which should be considered in youth-tailored prevention and intervention programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Sina Ostendorf & Elisa Wegmann & Matthias Brand, 2020. "Problematic Social-Networks-Use in German Children and Adolescents—The Interaction of Need to Belong, Online Self-Regulative Competences, and Age," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2518-:d:342241
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2518/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2518/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benjamin Stodt & Matthias Brand & Cornelia Sindermann & Elisa Wegmann & Mei Li & Min Zhou & Peng Sha & Christian Montag, 2018. "Investigating the Effect of Personality, Internet Literacy, and Use Expectancies in Internet-Use Disorder: A Comparative Study between China and Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-27, March.
    2. Daria J. Kuss & Mark D. Griffiths, 2017. "Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons Learned," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-17, March.
    3. Elisabeth Staksrud & Kjartan Ólafsson & Sonia Livingstone, 2013. "Does the use of social networking sites increase children’s risk of harm?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 45016, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Miguel-Ángel Pertegal & Alfredo Oliva & Ana Rodríguez-Meirinhos, 2019. "Development and validation of the Scale of Motives for Using Social Networking Sites (SMU-SNS) for adolescents and youths," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-21, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olatz Lopez-Fernandez, 2021. "Emerging Health and Education Issues Related to Internet Technologies and Addictive Problems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-19, January.
    2. Kseniia Zahrai & Ekant Veer & Paul William Ballantine & Huibert Peter de Vries & Girish Prayag, 2022. "Either you control social media or social media controls you: Understanding the impact of self‐control on excessive social media use from the dual‐system perspective," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 806-848, June.
    3. Melina A. Throuvala & Mark D. Griffiths & Mike Rennoldson & Daria J. Kuss, 2020. "Mind over Matter: Testing the Efficacy of an Online Randomized Controlled Trial to Reduce Distraction from Smartphone Use," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-30, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daria J. Kuss & Lydia Harkin & Eiman Kanjo & Joel Billieux, 2018. "Problematic Smartphone Use: Investigating Contemporary Experiences Using a Convergent Design," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Ethel Quayle, 2016. "Researching online child sexual exploitation and abuse: are there links between online and offline vulnerabilities?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 71260, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Lara Scherer & Lisa Mader & Klaus Wölfling & Manfred E. Beutel & Boris Egloff & Kai W. Müller, 2022. "Nosological Characteristics in Women with Social Media Disorder: The Role of Social Functional Impairment and Agreeableness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-11, November.
    4. Melina A. Throuvala & Mark D. Griffiths & Mike Rennoldson & Daria J. Kuss, 2019. "A ‘Control Model’ of Social Media Engagement in Adolescence: A Grounded Theory Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-18, November.
    5. Steven S. Chan & Michelle Van Solt & Ryan E. Cruz & Matthew Philp & Shalini Bahl & Nuket Serin & Nelson Borges Amaral & Robert Schindler & Abbey Bartosiak & Smriti Kumar & Murad Canbulut, 2022. "Social media and mindfulness: From the fear of missing out (FOMO) to the joy of missing out (JOMO)," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 1312-1331, September.
    6. Majid Altuwairiqi & Nan Jiang & Raian Ali, 2019. "Problematic Attachment to Social Media: Five Behavioural Archetypes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-36, June.
    7. Sarah Helene Aarestad & Tine Almenning Flaa & Mark D. Griffiths & Ståle Pallesen, 2023. "Smartphone Addiction and Subjective Withdrawal Effects: A Three-Day Experimental Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    8. José-María Romero-Rodríguez & Inmaculada Aznar-Díaz & José-Antonio Marín-Marín & Rebeca Soler-Costa & Carmen Rodríguez-Jiménez, 2020. "Impact of Problematic Smartphone Use and Instagram Use Intensity on Self-Esteem with University Students from Physical Education," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-10, June.
    9. Min-Jung Kwak & Hyun Cho & Dai-Jin Kim, 2022. "The Role of Motivation Systems, Anxiety, and Low Self-Control in Smartphone Addiction among Smartphone-Based Social Networking Service (SNS) Users," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-16, June.
    10. Park, Sora & Na, Eun-Yeong & Kim, Eun-mee, 2014. "The relationship between online activities, netiquette and cyberbullying," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 74-81.
    11. Zhou, Fei & Lin, Youhai & Mou, Jian & Cohen, Jason & Chen, Sihua, 2023. "Understanding the dark side of gamified interactions on short-form video platforms: Through a lens of expectations violations theory," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PB).
    12. Goodness Chinazor Joshua Chukwuere & Joshua Ebere Chukwuere, 2023. "The Difficulties Posed by Digital Technology: Understanding the Psychological Consequences of Social Media Use on Young Adults' Body Image and Self-Esteem," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 12, November.
    13. Alessandro Costantini & Cristina Semeraro & Pasquale Musso & Rosalinda Cassibba & Gabrielle Coppola, 2022. "The Role of Parenting, Dysregulation and Self-Esteem in Adolescents’ Problematic Social Network Site Use: A Test of Parallel and Serial Mediation Models in a Healthy Community Sample," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-14, October.
    14. Olatz Lopez-Fernandez, 2018. "Generalised Versus Specific Internet Use-Related Addiction Problems: A Mixed Methods Study on Internet, Gaming, and Social Networking Behaviours," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-33, December.
    15. Montserrat Peris & Usue de la Barrera & Konstanze Schoeps & Inmaculada Montoya-Castilla, 2020. "Psychological Risk Factors that Predict Social Networking and Internet Addiction in Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-23, June.
    16. Honglei Mu & Qiaojie Jiang & Jiang Xu & Sijing Chen, 2022. "Drivers and Consequences of Short-Form Video (SFV) Addiction amongst Adolescents in China: Stress-Coping Theory Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-18, October.
    17. Yinghui Huang & Hui Liu & Weijun Wang & Rouchun Dong & Yun Tang, 2021. "The Junior Students’ Internet Literacy Scale: Measure Development and Validation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-16, September.
    18. Alicia Tamarit & Konstanze Schoeps & Montserrat Peris-Hernández & Inmaculada Montoya-Castilla, 2021. "The Impact of Adolescent Internet Addiction on Sexual Online Victimization: The Mediating Effects of Sexting and Body Self-Esteem," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-17, April.
    19. Xingchen Zhu & Wencan Li & Haohan Zhao & Jinsheng Hu, 2024. "Surfing into trouble? How internet use influences early adolescent behavior through diverse pathways?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, December.
    20. Norsyazwani Mohd Ramli & Syukrina Alini Mat Ali & Noorain Mohamad Yunus & Sri Fatiany Abdul Kader Jailani & Nor Diyana Mohammed Shobri, 2024. "Exploring the Phenomenon of Selfie-Posting Behavior among Social Media Users," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 16(1), pages 94-105.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2518-:d:342241. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.