The longitudinal association between narcissism and problematic social networking sites use: The roles of two social comparison orientations

Xiangling Hou; Shengtao Ren; Dmitri Rozgonjuk; Lanjun Song; Juzhe Xi; René Mõttus

doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107786

The longitudinal association between narcissism and problematic social networking sites use: The roles of two social comparison orientations

Addict Behav. 2023 Oct:145:107786. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107786. Epub 2023 Jun 21.

Authors

Xiangling Hou¹, Shengtao Ren², Dmitri Rozgonjuk³, Lanjun Song⁴, Juzhe Xi⁵, René Mõttus⁶

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), Positive Education China Academy of Han-Jing Institute for Studies in Classics, Juzhe Xi's Master Workroom of Shanghai School Mental Health Service, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; School of Education, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China.
² Mental Health Education Center, Henan University of Animal Husbandry and Economy, Zhengzhou, China.
³ Department of Molecular Psychology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany; Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
⁴ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), Positive Education China Academy of Han-Jing Institute for Studies in Classics, Juzhe Xi's Master Workroom of Shanghai School Mental Health Service, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Changning Mental Health Center, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), Positive Education China Academy of Han-Jing Institute for Studies in Classics, Juzhe Xi's Master Workroom of Shanghai School Mental Health Service, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: jzxi@psy.ecnu.edu.cn.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.

PMID: 37392581
DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107786

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore whether the tendency to compare one's abilities and opinions to those of others (social comparison orientation) could longitudinally mediate the association between narcissism and problematic SNS use. A total of 1,196 college students were assessed at three time points over 22 months. The results showed that narcissism at time 1 was positively related to problematic SNS use at time 3 and that ability comparison at time 2 longitudinally mediated the association between narcissism at time 1 and problematic SNS use at time 3, whereas the longitudinal mediating effect of opinion comparison at time 2 was not significant. These findings suggest that narcissism more distally and ability comparison more proximally may be risk factors for engaging in problematic SNS use, and it is important to distinguish between types of social comparisons in problematic SNS use behaviors.

Keywords: Ability comparison; Narcissism; Opinion comparison; Problematic SNS use; Social comparison.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Behavior, Addictive*
Humans
Narcissism
Risk Factors
Social Comparison*
Social Networking