Exploring the relationship between social exclusion and social media addiction: The mediating roles of anger and impulsivity

Abstract

Previous studies have examined the relationships between some antecedents and social media addiction. However, an important factor – social exclusion – has not received enough attention in the literature, the underlying psychological mechanisms that link social exclusion to social media addiction are still unclear. The current study investigated the relation between social exclusion and social media addiction as well as the mediating effects of anger and impulsivity on this relationship. An online survey was conducted, the sample included 573 university students (323 females). The results suggested that: (1) social exclusion was positively correlated with social media addiction; (2) anger and impulsivity separately mediated the relation between social exclusion and social media addiction; and (3) anger and impulsivity sequentially mediated the association between social exclusion and social media addiction. The results of the present study were conducive to understanding the associations and the psychological mechanisms between the study variables.

Keywords

• Social exclusion
• Social media addiction
• Anger
• Impulsivity