Till logout do us part? Comparison of factors predicting excessive social network sites use and addiction between Singaporean adolescents and adults

Abstract

This study applies the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine how factors in the TPB, along with personality traits (neuroticism and extraversion), need to belong, self-identity, and self-esteem relate to excessive social network sites (SNSs) use and SNSs addiction among Singaporean adolescents and adults. We conducted two nationally representative surveys of Singaporean adolescents (n = 4920) and adults (n = 1000). Results indicated that adolescents showed greater addiction to SNSs as compared to adults, and that there are key differences between how the antecedents relate to the two dependent variables. TPB variables were found to be associated with SNSs addiction only among adolescents. Neuroticism was a consistent antecedent of both excessive use and addiction in the two samples, while extraversion was related to the outcome variables only among adults. Self-identity has the strongest association with excessive use and addiction for both samples; self-esteem was negatively associated with the two dependent variables among adults. Implications for theory and practice were discussed.