Is the use of Social Networking Sites Correlated with Internet Addiction? Facebook Use among Taiwanese College Students

Authors: Sen-Chi Yu, Wei-Hsin Hsu, Min-Ning Yu, Hao-Yi Hsu

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between Facebook involvement and internet addiction. We sampled 577 university students in Taiwan and administered a survey of Facebook usage, Facebook involvement scale (FIS), and internet addiction scale. The FIS comprises three factors (salience, emotional support, and amusement). Results showed that the Facebook involvement scale had good reliability and validity. The correlation between Facebook involvement and internet addiction was measured at .395. This means that a higher degree of Facebook involvement indicates a greater degree of psychological dependency on the internet, and a greater propensity towards social withdrawal and other negative psychological consequences associated with internet addiction. Besides, the correlations between three factors of FIS (salience, emotional support, and amusement) and internet addiction ranged from .313-372, indicating that these neither of these factors (salience, emotional support, and amusement) is more effective than the others in predicting internet dependency.

Keywords: Social networking sites, Facebook, Facebook Involvement, Internet Addiction

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1057363

References:

[1] N. B. Ellison, C. Steinfield, and Lampe, C. "The benefits of Facebook "friends:" Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol 12 ,pp.1143-1168, 2007.
[2] F. K. Hew," Students- and teachers- use of Facebook". Computers in Human Behavior, vol 27(2),pp 662-676, 2011.
[3] C. Steinfield, N. Ellison, and C. Lampe, "Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis". Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, vol 29, pp.434-445, 2008.
[4] T. A., Pempek, Y. A. Yermolayeva, , and S. L. Calvert, "College students' social networking experiences on Facebook". Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology,vol 30(3), pp.227-238, 2009.
[5] K. S. Young, Pathological Internet Use:" A case that breaks the stereotype." Psychological Reports, vol 79, pp.899-902, 1996
[6] M. Griffiths, (1998), "Internet addiction: Does it really exist?" In Psychology and the internet: Intrapersonal, interpersonal and transpersonal, J. Gackenbach (Ed.), New York: Academic Press, 1998, pp. 61-75.
[7] P. Sheldon, "The relationship between unwillingness-to-communicate and students- facebook use." Journal of Media Psychology, vol 20(2), pp. 67-75, 2008.
[8] R. B. Kline, , "Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling". New York: The Guilford Press, 2005.
[9] S. C. Yu, and M, M. Yu," Comparison of Internet-Based and Paper-Based Questionnaires in Taiwan Using Multi-Sample Invariance Approach." CyberPsychology and Behavior, vol10, pp.501-507, 2007.