The Impact Of Social Networking Intensity On Loneliness:Mediating Effects Of Social Comparison And Self-esteem

Loneliness is a subjective and negative emotional experience that an individual may feel isolated from the outside world or not accepted by others due to poor interpersonal relationships when building social relationships.The existing studies show that loneliness is influenced by many factors,such as the individual,family,school and society.so it is of great significance to find the potential factors leading to loneliness and timely intervention,to promote college students' physical and mental health and social development.Social networking sites are emerging platforms for individuals to conduct social activities and establish interpersonal relationships,which are more convenient and efficient than traditional ways of socializing.With the development of information society,it is more and more common for individuals to use social networking sites for social activities.Existing research shows that the use of social networking sites can help individuals reduce loneliness,but what remains to be studied is how the intensity of use of social networking sites affects levels of loneliness,so on the basis of existing research,this research mainly further explore the internal function of social networking websites use intensity influence on loneliness mechanism.Social comparison refers to the phenomenon that individuals unconsciously take others as the reference standard and then evaluate their own characteristics to obtain self-evaluation.It is an universal psychological experience that individuals will experience.Individuals can obtain a large amount of social comparison information on social networking sites.By comparing with different people,they can obtain different emotional experience,and loneliness will also change accordingly.Self-esteem is an individual's overall evaluation of himself or herself.Previous studies have shown that the use of social networking sites affects the level of individual self-esteem,which directly predicts loneliness.Therefore,both social comparison and self-esteem may be potential mediating variables in the influence of social network use intensity on loneliness.Hence,on the basis of previous studies,this study further explores the internal mechanism of social comparison and self-esteem in the influence of social network use on loneliness.In this study,361 freshmen in a college completed measures of social networking use intensity,social comparison,self-esteem and loneliness.The entire study further explores the social comparison or self-esteem as a mediator of social networking websites use intensity influence on loneliness,as well as the social comparison and self-esteem as the chain of mediation between social networking sites use intensity and loneliness.The results of this study are as follows:(1)The use intensity of social networking sites can directly predict the loneliness of college students.(2)Upward social comparison plays a partial mediating role between the use intensity of social networking sites and the loneliness of college students.(3)General social comparison plays a partial mediating role between the use intensity of social networking sites and the loneliness of college students.(4)Self-esteem plays a partial mediating role between the use intensity of social networking sites and the loneliness of college students.(5)Upward social comparison and self-esteem play a chain mediating role between the use intensity of social networking sites and the loneliness of college students.(6)General social comparison and self-esteem play a chain mediating role between the use intensity of social networking sites and the loneliness of college students.