Are you on Facebook? Relationship between problematic Facebook use and some aspects of use, motives and psychological characteristics of adolescents

Cilj ovoga istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost problematičnog korištenja društvene mreže Facebook s nekim obrascima korištenja, motivima i psihološkim karakteristikama adolescenata te utvrditi doprinos psiholoških karakteristika u objašnjenju problematičnog korištenja Facebooka. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 290 učenika srednjih škola, aktivnih korisnika društvene mreže Facebook. Sudionici su ispunjavali online bateriju upitnika koja je sadržavala: upitnik osobnih podataka, obrazaca i motiva korištenja Facebooka, Skalu samopoštovanja, UCLA skalu usamljenosti, Skalu straha od negativne evaluacije, Skalu percipirane socijalne podrške i Skalu problematičnog korištenja Facebooka. Pokazalo se da djevojke imaju višu razinu problematičnog korištenja Facebooka od mladića. Problematično korištenje Facebooka bilo je negativno povezano s ranijom dobi otvaranja profila i pozitivno s količinom vremena provedenim na Facebooku te brojem prijatelja na Facebooku. Također problematično korištenje bilo je povezano s motivima održavanje odnosa, upoznavanje novih prijatelja, potrošnja suvišnog vremena, zabava, navika i traženje društva. Sudionici s nižim samopoštovanjem, višom razinom usamljenosti i socijalne anksioznosti imali su višu razinu problematičnog korištenja Facebooka. Psihološke karakteristike objasnile su 18% varijance problematičnog korištenja Facebooka.The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between problematic Facebook use and some aspects of use, motives and individual characteristics of adolescents and to determine the contribution of individual characteristics in explanation of the problematic Facebook use. The study included 290 high school students, active Facebook users. Participants filled out the online questionnaire consisted of: questionnaire of personal information, aspects of use and motives, Self-Esteem Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, The Fear of negative evaluation scale, Scale of perceived social support and the Scale of problematic Facebook use. The results indicate that girls have higher scores of problematic Facebook use than boys. Problematic Facebook use was negatively related to an earlier age of Facebook profile opening and positively with daily time spent on Facebook and a number of Facebook friends. Furthermore, problematic Facebook use was associated with motives of use relationships maintenance, meeting new friends, to spend time, entertainment, habit and search for companionship. Participants with lower self-esteem, higher levels of loneliness and social anxiety had higher levels of problematic Facebook use. Psychological characteristics explained 18% of the variance of problematic Facebook use