Enjoyment or Indulgence? Social Media Service Usage, Social Gratification, Self-Control Failure and Emotional Health

Yan Liu; Hongfa Yi; Crystal Jiang

doi:10.3390/ijerph20021002

Author(s)

Yan Liu
Hongfa Yi
Crystal Jiang

Related Research Unit(s)

Department of Media and Communication

Detail(s)

Original language	English
Article number	1002
Journal / Publication	International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume	20
Issue number	2
Online published	5 Jan 2023
Publication status	Published - Jan 2023

Link(s)

DOI	DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021002 Final Published version
	Check@CityULib
Attachment(s)	Documents 138992096.pdf Final Published version, 959 KB, PDF Publisher's Copyright Statement This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Link to Scopus	https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85146824060&origin=recordpage
Permanent Link	https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/publications/publication(dd0276b3-70e4-4e9c-abd8-1bb733b62820).html

Abstract

Social networking site smartphone applications have been widely used among Chinese young adults. However, less is known about their effects on emotional health and the mechanisms through which they function. This study analyzes the relationship between college students' smartphone social networking service use patterns, social gratification, social media self-control failure, and emotional health. Data was collected from 360 college students in China via application log tracking and a self-administered questionnaire. Structural equation modeling results showed that, after controlling for demographic variables, the use of video social networking site smartphone applications was associated with decreased social gratification, and ultimately, adverse emotional health. Using social networking site smartphone applications late at night exhibited worse emotional health via more social media self-control failure. The implications for designing and using social media applications are discussed.

© 2023 by the authors.

Research Area(s)

mobile-based social media sites, social gratification, social media self-control failure, emotional health, app-tracking log data, NETWORKING SITES, CONSEQUENCES, SATISFACTION, FACEBOOK, MOBILE, PROCRASTINATION, ANTECEDENTS, PREDICTORS, ADDICTION, SUPPORT