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Addiction Research & Theory

ISSN: 1606-6359 (Print) 1476-7392 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iart20

Life satisfaction moderates the associations


between motives and excessive social networking
site usage
Jin-Liang Wang, James Gaskin, Hai-Zhen Wang & Dong Liu
To cite this article: Jin-Liang Wang, James Gaskin, Hai-Zhen Wang & Dong Liu (2016): Life
satisfaction moderates the associations between motives and excessive social networking site
usage, Addiction Research & Theory, DOI: 10.3109/16066359.2016.1160283
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/16066359.2016.1160283

Published online: 29 Mar 2016.

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Date: 05 April 2016, At: 23:59

ADDICTION RESEARCH & THEORY, 2016


http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/16066359.2016.1160283

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Life satisfaction moderates the associations between motives and excessive social
networking site usage
Jin-Liang Wanga, James Gaskinb, Hai-Zhen Wangc and Dong Liud

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a
Center for Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Beibei District, Chongqing City, China; bMarriott School of
Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA; cDepartment of Tourism and Art for Humanity, Chongqing Youth & Vocational
Technical College, Bebei District, Chongqing City, China; dSchool of Psychology, Renmin Univeristy, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT

ARTICLE HISTORY

It has been suggested that excessive social networking sites (SNS) users might use SNS as a method of
coping with their life problems and that psychosocial well-being variables might interact with users
motives for using SNS in predicting problematic SNS use. The present research explores whether the
association between motives (i.e. self-expression and passing time) and excessive SNS usage is moderated by the users life satisfaction. A total of 996 college students were recruited from two colleges in
Chongqing China. The participants were divided into excessive and nonexcessive SNS usage groups
based on their mean score from the excessive SNS usage measurement. Regression analyses revealed
that life satisfaction moderates the effect of motives on problematic SNS behaviors among excessive
SNS users. Specifically, the motives were significantly related to excessive SNS usage for those with lower
life satisfaction, while neither motives were associated with excessive SNS usage in participants with
higher life satisfaction. For nonexcessive users, there was no significant interaction between the studied
motives and life satisfaction for predicting excessive SNS usage, although the motives were significantly
related to the extent of the users problematic SNS behaviors.

Received 14 January 2016


Revised 26 February 2016
Accepted 27 February 2016
Published online 25 March
2016

Introduction
The Internet has penetrated almost all aspects of daily living
due to its rapid development in the past few decades, which
has led to growing concerns regarding the impact of excessive
Internet use on individuals mental health (Kaltiala-Heino
et al. 2004; Jenaro et al. 2007). An important application of
the Internet among different age groups is social networking
sites (SNS), which are virtual communities where users can
create individual public profiles, interact with real-life friends
and meet other people based on shared interests. SNS are
seen as a global consumer phenomenon with an exponential
rise in usage within the last few years (Kuss & Griffiths
2011). For instance, Facebook had approximately 1.49 billion
monthly active users in the second quarter of 2015 (Statista
2015), and the estimated active users on China Sina Weibo
reached 249 million in 2014 (CNNIC 2015). SNS are especially popular among college students, who use them for a
variety of purposes, including social connections, sexual interactions, identity sharing, social investigation, social network
surfing, status updating, relationship maintenance, entertainment, information seeking and to simply pass time (Foregger
2008; Sheldon 2008; Rae & Lonborg 2015).
We acknowledge that studies have reported that SNS can
help users form and maintain social capital and experience
greater life satisfaction and social trust (Ellison et al. 2007;
Park et al. 2009; Wang et al. 2015) in addition to
enhancing
adolescents
self-esteem
and
well-being
CONTACT Jin-Liang Wang
wangjinliang09@gmail.com
Road, Beibei District, Chongqing City 400715, China
2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

KEYWORDS

Social networking site; life


satisfaction; motive

(Valkenburg et al. 2006). However, increasingly, concerns


arise because the use of SNS might become habitual or problematic, and some excessive users rely on SNS to escape
negative moods (Ryan et al. 2014). In some instances, users
may find it hard to control and limit the amount of time
spent on SNS, and SNS use can be problematic for these
users (Satici & Uysal 2015). Moreover, anecdotal case study
evidence indicates that addiction to SNS may cause detrimental effects on users mental health (Kuss & Griffiths 2011),
which can lead to psychological, social, school and work
problems (Beard & Wolf 2001).
Researchers have suggested that SNS usage may be linked
to poor self-rated mental health and high levels of psychological distress (Sampasa-Kanyinga & Lewis 2015), as it can
decrease involvement in real-life communities (Nyland et al.
2007), worsen academic performance (Kirschner & Karpinski
2010) and exacerbate relationship problems (Muise et al.
2009). Additionally, the amount of time that college-aged
women spend on Facebook can predict eating disorders and
their anxiety levels (Mabe et al. 2014). Problematic SNS use
has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years
(Kuss & Griffiths 2011; Chen & Kim 2013; Cock et al. 2013;
Griffiths 2013; Pantic 2014; Ryan et al. 2014), which has led
to several interchangeable terms describing problematic SNS
use to appear in the literature, such as SNS addiction, excessive SNS use and problematic SNS use. Due to disagreement
about the definition or diagnostic criteria of SNS addiction

Center for Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2 Tiansheng

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J. WANG ET AL.

(Ryan et al. 2014) and other Internet-related applications


(Kardefelt-Winther 2015), we use a more conventional term,
excessive SNS usage, in the current study. Despite the popularity of SNS use, empirical research examining excessive
usage of these online social platforms is currently lacking.
As of today, previous studies have focused on investigating
the direct linear impact of antecedents on excessive SNS
usage, including antecedents such as personality variables
(Andreassen et al. 2012), usage and gratifications items (Ryan
et al. 2014) and demographic variables (Zhou 2010). But despite these studies, the complicated mechanisms through
which antecedents impact the excessive use of SNS are still
not clear, and much research needs to be performed to
understand this phenomenon. Prior studies have focused on
the direct effects of risk factors on SNS addiction. Recently,
several researchers have suggested the importance of delineating the process of excessive Internet-related applications over
direct predictors (Billieux et al. 2015; Griffiths et al. 2016).
As cautioned by Kardefelt-Winther (2014a), investigating
only the direct linear impact of potential predictors may lead
some indicators to first appear significant, then lose significance when controlling for other factors. This implies that
studies investigating the predictors of Internet addiction
should not only consider multiple predictor variables in the
same model, but also consider the predictors possible interactions with other variables. Otherwise, it is unlikely that
studies of predictors and outcome variables will be able to
yield new and useful information about why some users continue to use the Internet despite experiencing negative
outcomes.
A new emerging perspective that shifts the focus in studies
of excessive Internet usage from a focus on direct linear effect
of predictors, to a focus on indirect effects and interactions
between predictors, is the Compensatory Internet Use theory.
In recent years, this theoretical perspective has been used with
some success in a number of studies that were conducted to
investigate how motives for using different Internet applications (e.g. excessive use of video games or smartphones) interact with an individuals psychosocial well-being in predicting
excessive use (Kardefelt-Winther 2014a, 2014b, 2014c, 2015;
Wang et al. 2015). The Compensatory Internet Use theory
holds that a users needs and motives for coping with life problems via Internet use are determined by the amount of life
problems experienced. In the current study, by using the
Compensatory Internet Use Theory, we aimed to understand
the relationships among psychosocial well-being, the motives
for using SNS and excessive SNS usage.

Theoretical framework
Motives for SNS usage and excessive SNS usage
Individuals are motivated to use SNS to satisfy their needs.
Therefore, an approach encompassing usage and gratifications theory is often employed for investigating motives for
using SNS. According to the usage and gratifications perspective, individuals tend to actively select particular media and
consume content to satisfy their psychological needs (Katz
et al. 1974), which means that individuals may spend

excessive time on a certain SNS as a way of satisfying specific


needs. Prior studies have reported several important motives
for SNS usage, including escapism, passing time, self-expression, impression management and entertainment, (Ryan et al.
2014). Excessive SNS users may have similar needs and motivations just like common users. In terms of the relationship
between motives and excessive SNS usage, researchers have
suggested that SNS users may lose control over use that was
originally motivated by an active consideration of the gratifications of online behavior (Song et al. 2004). The positive
association between motives for using SNS and SNS addiction has been suggested theoretically and examined empirically (Kuss & Griffiths 2011; Chen & Kim 2013; Floros &
Siomos 2013); for instance, in a study by Wan (2009), an
investigation of campus-based SNS Xiaonei.com was conducted among 335 Chinese college students. The results
showed that socialization and relationship building motives
were significantly related to excessive usage of Xiaonei.com.
In another study, Chen and Kim (2013) reported that diversion and self-presentation motives were significant predictors
of excessive SNS usage. Although the positive associations
between motives and excessive SNS use have been both suggested theoretically and examined empirically (Kuss &
Griffiths 2011; Chen & Kim 2013; Floros & Siomos 2013), little is known about whether psychosocial well-being variables
indeed interact with this relationship and, if so, how this
interaction occurs.

Life satisfaction and excessive SNS usage


Prior studies have suggested that individuals may use online
communication as a means of alleviating negative moods,
implying that individuals with low life satisfaction may be
more likely to excessively use SNS (Caplan 2010). The prevalence of Internet addiction is higher in nations manifesting
greater general dissatisfaction with life (Cheng & Li 2014).
Bozoglan et al. (2013) found that psychosocial well-being variables, including loneliness, self-esteem and life satisfaction,
explained 38% of the total variance in Internet addiction
among Turkish university students. In another study of a
sample of 10,988 Chinese adolescents, increased symptoms of
excessive Internet usage were related to decreased self-esteem,
low life satisfaction and enhanced depression (Wang et al.
2013). In the field of SNS usage, researchers have reported a
positive relationship between life satisfaction and SNS usage
intentions, as well as intensity of SNS usage and excessive
SNS usage (Oliveira & Huertas 2015; Rae & Lonborg 2015;
Satici & Uysal 2015). In a recent study, Satici and Uysal
(2015) investigated the potential effect of well-being on excessive Facebook usage and found that Facebook users with
lower well-being were more likely to use Facebook excessively. However, these studies have had little to offer in terms
of theory when it comes to explaining why lower well-being
seems likely to cause excessive usage of SNS. Therefore, this
study draws on the Compensatory Internet Use theory, which
provides a theoretical framework to understand why the
excessive use of SNS and other Internet applications might
be related to a persons well-being.

ADDICTION RESEARCH & THEORY

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Compensatory Internet use theory


The Compensatory Internet Use theory suggests that individuals with low psychosocial well-being are more likely to use the
Internet in an excessive way, because these individuals may
rely on Internet usage for the relief of negative moods or emotional states in their lives. Furthermore, low psychosocial wellbeing may be an underlying cause of some of the motives for
Internet usage, and in certain situations, low psychosocial wellbeing can therefore lead an individual to spend so much time
online for coping purpose that they experience significant reallife impairment as a consequence (Kardefelt-Winther 2014a).
This perspective recommends that the motives for using the
Internet and an individuals psychosocial well-being should be
investigated in combination when the purpose is to understand
how these variables might lead to excessive Internet use, since
a joint investigation helps the researcher to further elucidate
the process underlying the problem (Kardefelt-Winther
2014a). Based on this logic, several studies have examined the
associations among motives for using Internet applications,
psychosocial well-being variables and Internet-related problem
behaviors. For example, Wang et al. (2015) analyzed the moderating role of perceived stress on the relationship between
entertainment or escapism and excessive smartphone use, and
their findings supported the Compensatory Internet Use theory. In another study, Kardefelt-Winther (2014c) reported that
both stress and self-esteem moderated the relationship between
escapism and excessive online gaming. Specifically, the association between escapism and excessive online gaming was positive in the context of high stress or low self-esteem for those
with high excessive online gaming scores. Thus far, no study
has been conducted to examine whether psychosocial wellbeing variables moderate the links between motives and individuals excessive behavior on SNS. Based on our interviews
with college students, which was part of a qualitative precursor
study, we chose passing time and self-expression as the potential motives to be further investigated in this study.

Hypotheses
According to the Compensatory Internet Use theory, it would
be arbitrary to assume that everyone who uses SNS to pass
time or for escapism is at risk of excessive use. Only a
minority of all users experience problematic outcomes (i.e.
excessive SNS usage in the current study) (Kardefelt-Winther
2014c). Because Weibo is expected to be problematic only
when individuals use it as their main way to address negative
life circumstances, we anticipate that the moderating effect of
life satisfaction only appears for users with higher degrees of
excessive SNS usage behaviors. For nonexcessive users, psychological well-being may not moderate the association
between motives and excessive SNS use because these users
do not use SNS as means of relieving life problems. For this
reason, the sample was divided to be able to explore the
interaction effect among excessive and nonexcessive users
respectively based on participants mean scores on SNS use.
The participants with a mean score or higher were referred
to as the excessive use group, while those scoring lower than
the mean value were referred to as the non-excessive use

Figure 1. The two-way interaction effect of life satisfaction and passing time on
usage in the excessive Weibo-use group, N 380.

Figure 2. The two-way interaction effect of life satisfaction and self-expression


on the extent of use in the excessive Weibo-use group, N 380.

group (Kardefelt-Winther 2014c). This approach helps us


understand the differences between excessive and nonexcessive
users and is useful for exploring the processes underlying
excessive use. If the interaction effect is significant only for
those who experience higher degrees of excessive use, this
would offer some initial evidence that the interaction might
also be one of the factors that explains why excessive use
occurs for one group over the other. Furthermore, as
Kardefelt-Winther (2014c) states, exploring patterns of excessive use in a group of non-excessive users does not make sense
(Figures 1 and 2). Therefore, we hypothesized that (a) the relationship between self-expression motivations and excessive
SNS use will be moderated by life satisfaction among users
with excessive SNS use (H1); (b) the relationship between
passing time motivations and excessive SNS use will be moderated by life satisfaction among users with excessive SNS use
(H2); (c) the relationship between self-expression motivations
and excessive SNS use will be consistent (positive), regardless
of life satisfaction among non-excessive SNS users (H3); and
(d) the relationship between passing time motivations and
excessive SNS use will be consistent (positive), regardless of
life satisfaction among nonexcessive SNS users (H4).

Methods
Researchers have suggested that studies on excessive SNS
usage should focus on specific sites rather than on general
usage and that the development of SNS addiction is likely to

J. WANG ET AL.

be related to the gratifications associated with the usage of a


particular site (Ryan et al. 2014). In the current study, we
chose to use Sina Weibo, as it is among the most inviting
SNS in China. With more than 368 million registered users,
Sina Weibo was launched in 2009 and is owned by
SINA Corporation, the largest Internet portal in China.
Approximately, 100 million messages are posted each day on
Sina Weibo, and.Sina Weibo has implemented many features
similar to those of Twitter (e.g. users may post within a 140character limit and mention or talk to other people).

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Participants
A sample of 996 college students were recruited from two
colleges in Chongqing China, of which 915 (Mage 19.87,
SDage 1.34, 23.6% male) completed valid questionnaires,
with a usable response rate of 91.86%. The sample consisted
of 46.9% of students in the first year, 38.7% of students in
the second year, 9.1% of students in the third year, and 5.3%
of students in the fourth year. Over half (55.9%) of the participants majored in natural science (math, physics, chemistry, biology, life sciences and computer sciences), and 44.1%
indicated that they majored in social science (economics,
business administration, education, philology, law, politics
and philosophy). All of the participants indicated that they
were Sina Weibo users. The participants were recruited during the Spring Semester 2015 through announcements in
various lecture halls. The advertisements included a brief
description of the nature of the study. Participants were compensated with 10, which is equivalent to USD $1.61. The
participants completed the surveys in a large lecture hall or
in their class during several 20-min sessions.
Measures
The Bergen facebook addiction scale (BFAS)
The BFAS (Andreassen et al. 2012) was revised to measure
excessive Weibo usage. It contains six items (e.g. Spent a lot
of time thinking about Weibo or planned use of Weibo and
Felt an urge to use Weibo more and more), and each item
was rated on a five-point Likert scale (from 1 very rarely to
5 very often). The Cronbachs alpha coefficient of the original form was 0.83. The internal consistency reliability coefficient in the current study was 0.86 (M 1.92, SD 0.85).
The life satisfaction scale
The satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) was used to assess the
participants global life satisfaction (Diener et al. 1985).
Participants rated five items on a seven-point Likert scale,
ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 7 strongly agree.
Example items included In most ways, my life is close to my
ideal and I am satisfied with my life (M 2.89, SD
0.77). In the current study, the Cronbachs alpha was 0.75.
Motives for using SNS
Self-expression and passing time were measured through
items adopted from Wang et al. (2015) social media usage
motive scale. Specifically, the motive of passing time was

measured with three items, including the sample item, I use


Weibo when I have nothing better to do (M 3.01, SD
1.02, Cronbachs alpha 0.84). Self-expression was measured
by four items, including the sample item, I use Weibo to let
other people understand me (M 2.77, SD 0.95,
Cronbachs alpha 0.85). All of the response options were
in the form of a five-point Likert scale, and all the scores
were averaged in the following analyses.
Factor analyses
The exploratory factor analysis yielded an acceptable fourfactor model: KMO 0.870, total variance explained
54.1%, nonredundant residuals 1%, all factor loadings
>0.350, no substantial cross-loadings (Hair et al. 2010). The
confirmatory factor analysis required no modifications to
yield acceptable goodness of fit: v2/df 3.70, GFI 0.95,
AGFI 0.93, NFI 0.94, RFI 0.93, IFI 0.94, CFI
0.95, RMSEA 0.05. Convergent validity is confirmed with
composite reliability scores all above 0.700 (Malhotra & Dash
2011). Discriminant validity is confirmed with all AVEs
greater than the squared inter-factor correlation (Fornell &
Larcker 1981).

Results
Descriptive and regression analyses
To conduct a comparative analysis, we used a procedure recommended by Kardeflet-Winther (2014c), which was to divide the sample into a highly excessive Weibo-use group and
a nonexcessive Weibo-use group, according to the participants scores on the BFAS (Moveruse 1.91, SDoveruse
0.85). The participants with Moveruse> 1.91 were referred to
as the excessive Weibo-use group, while those with a score of
1.91 or lower were referred to as the nonexcessive Weibo-use
group. This resulted in a final sample size of N 380 (Mage
19.93, SDage 1.37, Moveruse 2.73, SDoveruse 0.64,
male 25.1%) for the excessive Weibo group and N 535
(Mage 19.83, SDage 1.31, Moveruse 1.32, SDoveruse
0.29, male 22.5%) for the nonexcessive user group. The
scores obtained by the two groups on the BFAS were significantly different (t 45.78, p < 0.001). The zero-order correlations obtained for the variables among respondents with
excessive Weibo-use were computed. The results show that
passing time and self-expression, as well as life satisfaction,
were significantly correlated with excessive Weibo use
(r 0.16, p < 0.005; r 0.39, p < 0.005; and r 0.11,
p < 0.01, respectively) among excessive users. For nonexcessive users, passing time and self-expression were significantly
correlated with excessive Weibo use (r 0.26, p < 0.005 and
r 0.26, p < 0.005, respectively). However, life satisfaction
was not correlated with excessive Weibo use among nonexcessive users (r 0.05, p > 0.05).
A regression analysis was run to test H1. We entered the
interaction terms of passing time and life satisfaction into the
regression model. We followed the recommendations of
Cohen et al. (2003) for interpreting the interaction between
the two predictor variables. Specifically, the relationship

ADDICTION RESEARCH & THEORY

Table 1. The multiple regression model of the mean BFAS scores with the interaction terms of passing time and life satisfaction
among participants in the excessive Weibo-use group, N 380.
Model

Variables

Excessive Weibo use

Passing time
Life satisfaction
Passing time *Life satisfaction

Standardized beta

0.14
0.07
0.14

2.60
1.24
2.60

0.01
0.22
0.01

Table 2. A multiple regression model of the mean BFAS scores with the interaction terms of self-expression and life satisfaction
among participants in the excessive Weibo-use group, N 380.
Model

Variables

Excessive Weibo use

Self-expression
Life satisfaction
Self-expression *Life satisfaction

Standardized beta

0.36
0.01
0.16

7.99
0.13
2.93

0.00
0.90
0.001

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Table 3. A multiple regression model of the mean BFAS scores with the interaction terms of passing time and life satisfaction among
participants in the nonexcessive Weibo-use group, N 553.
Model

Variables

Excessive Weibo use

Passing time
Life satisfaction
Passing time *Life satisfaction

Standardized beta

0.26
0.06
0.01

6.14
1.46
0.29

0.00
0.14
0.77

Table 4. Multiple regression model on the mean BFAS scores with the interaction term of the self-expression motive and life satisfaction among participants in the nonexcessive Weibo-use group, N 553.
Model

Variables

Excessive Weibo use

Self-expression
Life satisfaction
Self-expression * Life satisfaction

between the first predictor variable (i.e. passing time) and the
dependent variable (i.e. excessive SNS usage) was plotted
when the levels of the second predictor variable (i.e. the
moderator) were one standard deviation below and one
standard deviation above the mean for that variable (i.e. the
moderator). We also tested the statistical significance of each
of these two slopes (Aiken et al. 1991), which represented the
simple effect of the predictor variable on excessive Weibo use
at two levels of the moderator variable.
As shown in Table 1, passing time and the interaction term
of passing time and life satisfaction were significantly related
to excessive Weibo use, with b 0.14, p < 0.05, and b
0.14, p < 0.05, respectively. Life satisfaction was not related
to excessive Weibo use, with b 0.07, p > 0.05. Regarding
the correspondence of the slopes with the two-level moderator
(i.e. life satisfaction), a simple-effect analysis revealed a positive association between passing time and excessive Weibo use
when life satisfaction was low (b 0.32, p < 0.01). However,
the significant association between passing time and excessive
Weibo use disappeared among users with high life satisfaction
(b 0.08, p > 0.05). Therefore, the results support H1.
We performed a similar regression analysis regarding H2
to test whether life satisfaction moderates the association
between self-expression and excessive Weibo use among
excessive users. The results showed that self-expression and
the interaction term of self-expression and life satisfaction
were significantly related to excessive Weibo use, with
b 0.38, p < 0.001, and b 0.16, p < 0.01, respectively.
Life satisfaction alone (i.e. not as part of the interaction) was
not directly related to excessive Weibo use, with b 0.01,
p > 0.05. Regarding the correspondence of the slopes with the
two-level moderator (i.e. life satisfaction), a simple-effect analysis revealed a positive association between self-expression

Standardized beta

0.26
0.06
0.002

6.14
1.36
0.05

0.00
0.17
0.96

and excessive Weibo use when life satisfaction was low


(b 0.54, p < 0.001). However, no significant association was
found between self-expression and excessive Weibo use when
life satisfaction was high (b 0.19, p > 0.05). These findings
support H2 (Table 2).
To assess H3, which life satisfaction would not moderate
the association between passing time and excessive Weibo use
among nonexcessive users, we ran a regression analysis akin to
the steps aforementioned. The results show that passing time
alone was significantly related to excessive Weibo use
(b 0.26, p < 0.001), while the interaction effects of life satisfaction and passing time were not related to excessive Weibo
use (b 0.01, p > 0.05), hence confirming H3 (Table 3).
Finally, regarding H4, that life satisfaction would not moderate the association between self-expression and excessive
Weibo use among nonexcessive users, we found that selfexpression alone was significantly related to excessive Weibo
use (b 0.26, p < 0.001), while the interaction terms of life
satisfaction and self-expression motive were not associated
with excessive Weibo use (b 0.002, p > 0.05) (Table 4).

Discussion
The current research contributed to the literature by investigating whether life satisfaction can relieve the effects of
motives on excessive SNS use among excessive users.
According to the methodological procedure suggested by
Kardefelt-Winther (2014b, 2014c, 2015), we divided our participants into excessive and non-excessive Weibo use groups
based on their mean scores on the BFAS and then tested
whether life satisfaction moderated the associations between
two motives and excessive Sina Weibo use. We found that
passing time and self-expression were significantly related to

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J. WANG ET AL.

excessive SNS use in both groups. However, the significant


moderating effect of life satisfaction on the relationship
between the two motives and excessive Weibo use was only
found among the excessive Weibo use group. This finding
supports the Compensatory Internet Use theory and underlines the importance of psychosocial well-being (i.e. life satisfaction) on the development of excessive SNS usage.
All four hypotheses were confirmed in this study. In terms
of H1 and H2, we assumed that life satisfaction would moderate the associations between passing time and self-expression
as well as the extent of excessive Weibo use among excessive
users. Our results indicated that life satisfaction can weaken
the associations between the two motives (i.e. passing time
and self-expression) and excessive Weibo use. Specifically, the
relationships between the two motives and excessive Weibo
use were significant for users with lower life satisfaction. These
relationships became nonsignificant among users with high
life satisfaction. These results indicate that users motivated by
the desire to pass time and of self-expression who were also
less satisfied with their lives were more susceptible to excessive
Weibo usage compared with those who were more satisfied
with their lives. Our finding is in line with previous studies
that applied the Compensatory Internet Use theory to the
topic of excessive online gaming and smartphone usage
(Kardefelt-Winther 2014c; Wang et al. 2015).
Moreover, our findings are consistent with studies showing that SNS usage motives like self-expression and passing
time are related to excessive SNS use (e.g. Caplan 2010;
Oliveira & Huertas 2015; Rae & Lonborg 2015; Satici &
Uysal 2015), but unlike these previous studies this paper also
illustrates part of the process that explains this relationship,
by drawing on the Compensatory Internet Use theory.
Activities offered by Sina Weibo, such as writing a blog,
instant messaging, discussing with users on hot topics and
comments can satisfy the users need for self-expression, and
its features including following celebrities, reading news feeds
and viewing messages posted by others can be utilized for
passing time. These activities are primarily unidirectional follow-type activities rather than multidirectional interactiontype activities afforded by other types of social networks.
Based on the results in this paper, it seems as if these functions might be used excessively by those who are less satisfied
with their lives in order to alleviate their negative feelings.
Importantly, these motives were not related to excessive SNS
use among users with high levels of life satisfaction, which
again supports a basic tenet of the Compensatory Internet
Use theory (Kardefelt-Winther 2014a) and justifies the suggested methodological approach of dividing the samples into
excessive and nonexcessive users (Kardefelt-Winther 2014c).
Additionally, these findings show that not all users who enjoy
passing time on SNS or who appreciate the self-expression
opportunities these platforms afford are at risk of excessive
use. Motives specifically lead to problematic outcomes for
users who are less satisfied with their lives, and so it seems
the problem lies with the individuals life situation rather
than the technology itself.
Our findings also confirmed this through H3 and H4; we
found that among nonexcessive SNS users, the motives did
not interact with life satisfaction. Among nonexcessive users,

motives have a direct effect on excessive SNS usage.


However, psychosocial well-being does not moderate the
association between motives and excessive use, which makes
it unclear how this association might be explained. One possible explanation is that the measurement of excessive use is
tangentially related to passionate use or general interest. This
means that a positive association between motives and excessive SNS use in this group with low excessive use might simply reflect common interest, which occasionally leads to some
problems due to the time spend online, but far from clinically significant impairment (Kardefelt-Winther 2015). Taken
together, the results presented in this paper suggests that
usage and gratifications theory might be more suitable for
the explanation of general SNS usage (among nonexcessive
users), while the Compensatory Internet Use theory might be
more appropriate for understanding the development of
excessive SNS use, as it affords a focus on the underlying
processing that might explain this problem behavior. To conclude, it seems plausible that some users have a higher risk
of excessive SNS use than others because they use SNS primary as a coping strategy for dealing with life problems
(Kardefelt-Winther 2014a), while non-excessive users may
only use SNS to pass time or for self-expression, which are
desires that are unrelated to negative real-life situations and
indicative of a general interest and associated with positive
outcomes. In others words, excessive SNS users may use SNS
as a way to compensate for unsatisfactory life situations,
while this is not the case among non-excessive SNS users,
which illustrates one reason why these two groups are
different.
Our study is not without limitations: First, the mean value
for excessive SNS use in the excessive users group was 2.73,
which actually is not very high overuse. Second, the findings of
this study should be generalized to other populations with caution as our findings were based on a homogeneous group of
students from two colleges in China. Third, the cross-sectional
study design may weaken the persuasiveness of our findings.
Longitudinal or experimental studies may provide stronger evidence for the relationships among the study variables.
Additionally, future researchers should examine whether life
satisfaction moderates the association between other motives
(e.g. social interaction and entertainment) and excessive SNS
usage. Finally, it seems as if the Compensatory Internet Use
theory (Kardefelt-Winther 2014a) might be a valid alternative
for exploring the processes that explain excessive use of a variety of Internet-related platforms. Since a number of recent collective efforts in this area have emphasized the need for
understanding process over direct predictors (e.g. Billieux et al.
2015; Griffiths et al. 2016), it seems useful for purposes of
research to continually test and extend this model through
future work.
The findings presented in this study have some important
implications for interventions aimed at reducing excessive
SNS use. If excessive SNS use is a primary coping mechanism
for negative life situations, then it follows that researchers
and mental health practitioners should focus on improving
excessive users well-being in order to change the problematic
behavior rather than focusing on reducing their use of SNS
through aversion or behavioral punishment therapies. Indeed,

ADDICTION RESEARCH & THEORY

doing so could be more harmful than helpful as these users


are then left to face a difficult real life situation without
adequate means of coping.

Disclosure statement
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are
responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Funding information
This study has been funded by the Planning Projects for the National
Education Science: Grant No. CBA140146. Grant title is The Influence
of Social Networking Sites Use on Adolescents and Young Adults
Mental Health and its Interventions.

Downloaded by [King Saud University] at 23:59 05 April 2016

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