The Role of Procrastination Between Personality Traits and Addictive Mukbang Watching Among Emerging Adults

Abstract

The role of personality traits in the development of addictive use of different online activities has been extensively demonstrated in the previous studies. One new type of online activity is the watching of mukbang (the South Korean term for “eating broadcasts”). However, very little is known about addictive mukbang watching (AMW) and its relationship to personality constructs. The present study investigated the direct and indirect associations of Big Five personality traits (i.e., extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness) and dark personality traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism, spitefulness) with AMW via procrastination. An online survey that comprised items assessing the aforementioned variables was completed by 222 university students who had watched mukbang at least once in the previous week. Path analysis indicated that extroversion was indirectly negatively associated with AMW via procrastination. Furthermore, conscientiousness, sadism, and procrastination were directly positively associated with higher AMW. Findings suggest that individuals may develop and maintain uncontrolled mukbang watching in order to procrastinate and personality traits may play a contributing role in this association.