Attachment Anxiety and Problematic Social Media Use: The Mediating Role of Well-Being
Worsley JD, Mansfield R, Corcoran R
Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking · 32 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Cross-sectional study (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Government
- National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care North West Coast
Based on 1 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2018-08-22 · Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw · vol. 21 · issue 9 · pp. 563–568
- Publisher
- Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
- Cited
- 85 citations · more than 98% of similar papers · 12.4× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 37 works
- Access
- Paywalled
- Research areas
- Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Digital Marketing and Social Media
- Keywords
- attachment anxiety, insecure attachment, social media addiction, psychological well-being, attachment avoidance, mediation, young adults, social media use
- MeSH
- humans, cross-sectional studies, behavior, addictive, anxiety, object attachment, anxiety disorders, quality of life, adolescent, female, male, young adult, social media, surveys and questionnaires
3 authors
From GB
- Joanne Deborah Worsley · correspondingUniversity of Liverpool
- Rosie MansfieldUniversity of Liverpool
- Rhiannon CorcoranUniversity of Liverpool
Abstract
Insecure attachment is associated with a myriad of maladaptive outcomes, including low well-being and problematic Internet use. The lack of research investigating the roles that interpersonal attachment styles and psychological well-being play in problematic social media use is surprising. To address this gap, 915 young people aged 18-25 years (M = 20.19, SD = 1.58) completed an online survey measuring attachment styles, psychological well-being, and problematic social media use. We found that both greater attachment anxiety and less avoidance in attachment relationships were associated with problematic use of social media. The data further indicated that there was a significant indirect effect of attachment anxiety on problematic social media use through general feelings of psychological well-being, suggesting that individuals characterized by anxious attachment styles may be using social media as a means of enhancing psychological well-being. As psychological well-being was found to be negatively associated with problematic social media use, our findings bolster calls for enhancing young people's well-being. However, causality cannot be fully established due to the cross-sectional design of this study.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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