The Effect Of Imaginary Audience Of Junior High School Students On Problematic Use Of Social Network Sites:A Moderated Mediation Model

Nowadays,Social networking sites(SNSs)have become an indispensable online communication platform for teenagers.According to the report released by China Internet information center in 2017,teenagers aged 10 to 19 are the main users of SNSs.With the popularity of SNSs among teenagers,they spend lots of time on the SNSs,which causes uncontrollable usage behaviors.The act of compulsive use of SNSs bring them psychological distress and physical inadaptation,which leads to the problematic use of SNSs.This phenomenon has attracted the attention of relevant researchers and society,and its influencing factors and effecting mechanisms have become hot spots.However,previous studies have neglected the unique cognitive development characteristics of the individual in adolescence,namely the influence of imaginary audience on individuals.Teenagers with high level of imaginary audience tend to exhibit positive images and messages when they present themselves on SNSs in order to avoid negative comments and ridicule from others.The positive self-presentation on SNSs can have positive effects on individuals,such as enhancing positive emotions and acquiring social support,which further strengthens the tendency of using of SNSs and causes problematic use of them.However,the effects of positive self-presentation on SNSs are influenced by individual factors.Core self-evaluation,as an important individual characteristic variable,can affect the level of social support that the individual perceives,thus alleviating the negative effect of positive self-presentation on SNSs on problematic use of SNSs.Therefore,based on the need and satisfaction theory,social cognition model and social skills model,the study aims to examine the influence of adolescent imaginary audience on the problematic use of SNSs.Meanwhile,the mediating role of the positive self-presentation on SNSs and the moderating effect of core self-evaluation are also tested.A survey research method was conducted in which scales for imaginary audience,problematic use of SNSs,positive self-presentation on SNSs and core self-evaluation were administered to 665 junior high school students.The data were analyzed using SPSS21.0 and PROCESS procedures.The results indicated:(1)from the first to the third grade,the level of students’ imaginary audience and problematic use of SNSs gradually increased,while the level of core self-evaluation gradually decreased;the core self-evaluation of male students is higher than that of female students;(2)the imaginary audience level of junior high school students was positively correlated with problematic use of SNSs and the positive self-presentation on SNSs;positive self-presentation on SNSs was positively related to problematic use of SNSs;core self-evaluation was negatively related to imaginary audience;(3)imaginary audience could not only predict problematic use of SNSs,but also could positively predict problematic use of SNSs through the mediation role of positive self-presentation on SNSs;(4)the mediation of positive self-presentation on SNSs between imaginary audience and problematic use of SNSs was moderated by core self-evaluation,namely the mediation effect is potent for individuals with low level of core self-evaluation.Finally,the limitations of the present study as well as the futre directions were discussed.