Examining the mediating roles of microblog use in the relationships between narcissism, social anxiety, and social capital

Abstract

Microblog is a platform for publishing and sharing short (140 characters or less) messages with others within a user's social network – is an Internet medium that is growing exponentially and changing the way people communicate on the Internet. To explore the effect of microblogging on interpersonal relationships, this study examines the relationships between narcissism, social anxiety, and microblog use and investigates how these psychological attributes and microblog use may affect social capital. Data were gathered through an online survey of 329 young adults aged 21–30 in mainland China using snowball sampling technique. Regression results indicate the following: (1) narcissism and social anxiety are positively related to the intensity of microblog use; (2) the intensity of microblog use positively predicts both types of social capital (bridging and bonding); (3) although narcissism has a positive effect on both types of social capital, this effect is partly mediated by the intensity of microblog use; (4) social anxiety is slightly positively related to bridging social capital, and this effect is perfectly mediated by the intensity of microblog use; and (5) there is a suppression effect of the intensity of microblog use between social anxiety and bonding social capital. The effect of the intensity of microblog use suppresses the negative effect of social anxiety on bonding social capital. Details about the findings will be discussed.