Social Networking Site Addiction and Suicidal Ideation: Examination of the Mediating Role of Thwarted Belongingness and Perceived Burdensomeness Using a Structural Equation Modeling Approach
Abstract
This study examined the underlying mechanisms between social networking site (SNS) addiction and suicidal ideation (SI). Despite an emerging literature base providing empirical evidence of a link between problematic SNS use and SI, the underlying mechanisms and moderators of this relationship have been largely unstudied. Joiner’s Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS) suggests that perceived burdensomeness (PB) and thwarted belongingness (TB) serve as mediating variables between suicide risk factors and SI. This theory was applied in the context of SNS addiction and tested via structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. Results found that perceived burdensomeness (PB) functioned as a full mediator between SNS addiction and SI when controlling for sex, age, and race/ethnicity. Thwarted belongingness (TB) was not found to mediate the relationship due to lack of evidence supporting its factor structure and its failure to predict suicidal ideation. Implications of the poor fitting factor structure of TB are discussed including the extraction of a third factor from within the TB subscale. Additionally, this study found that perceived online social support (OSS) did not moderate the mediated relationship between SNS addiction and SI as hypothesized. Information from this study provides clarity on the link between problematic SNS addiction and SI, as well as the utility of the IPTS.
Description
Keywords
suicide, SEM