Pathological Traits Associated to Facebook and Twitter among French Users

Élodie Verseillié, Stéphanie Laconi and Henri Chabrol
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Élodie Verseillié: Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé (CERPPS) EA7411, Université de Toulouse, 5, Allées Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse Cedex, France
Stéphanie Laconi: Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé (CERPPS) EA7411, Université de Toulouse, 5, Allées Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse Cedex, France
Henri Chabrol: Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé (CERPPS) EA7411, Université de Toulouse, 5, Allées Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse Cedex, France

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-9

Abstract: Background: With a growing number of users, social networking sites have been the subject of numerous recent studies, but little investigation has been given to their problematic use. Objectives: Our main objective was to study the relationship between psychopathological variables (i.e., personality traits, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and stress) and problematic Facebook and Twitter use. Participants and method: A sample of 1068 Internet users (Mage = 26.64; SD = 9.5) has been recruited online. Participants completed scales exploring problematic Facebook and Twitter use, and psychopathological variables. Results: Problematic Facebook and Twitter use were predicted by different pathological personality traits, regrouped in clusters in our study. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were also predictive of problematic Facebook and Twitter use but only stress explained problematic Facebook use. Gender differences have been observed. Discussion: This study highlights the relationship between depression, anxiety, stress, pathological personality traits, and problematic Facebook and Twitter use. Significant differences have been retrieved between these two uses and their relationship to psychopathology. Future research should also explore the causal relationship between social networking sites use and psychopathology and consider gender.

Keywords: problematic use; addiction; Twitter; Facebook; psychopathology; personality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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