The role of dissociative experiences in the link between psychological distress and Problematic Social Network Sites Use
Background. Problematic SNSs Use (PSNSU) has been defined as the lack of regulation of one’s use of social networks associated with negative outcomes in one’s everyday functioning. Among the possible risk factors that can favor PSNSU, anxiety and depression symptoms seem to play a key role. Despite this link being well documented, the underlying psychological processes are unclear. A possible explanation can be advanced by adopting a psychodynamic perspective, according to which an excessive involvement with technology (i.e., PSNSU) can serve as a psychic retreat directed towards the contrast of strong emotional distress, a withdrawal of a dissociative nature. Therefore, we hypothesized that dissociative experiences might constitute a dysfunctional defense mechanism that accounts for the relationship between psychological distress and both frequency and intensity of PSNSU symptoms.
Methods. A sample of 776 participants (78.2% females; Mage = 41.95 ± 13.19) was recruited. The Italian versions of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-II), and the Assessment of Criteria for Specific Internet-use Disorders (ACSID-11) were used to assess the level of depression, anxiety, dissociative experiences (Absorption & Imaginative Involvement, Amnestic Dissociation, and Depersonalization/Derealization) and PSNSU (in terms of frequency and intensity of symptoms), respectively. To verify the theoretical hypothesized model, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed. The indirect effects were tested using the bootstrapping method with 5,000 bootstrap samples.
Results. The proposed structural model produced good fit indices (χ2 = 238.154, df = 110, p < .001; RMSEA = 0.039 (90% C.I. = 0.032 - 0.045), CFI = 0.987, SRMR = 0.035). The variables in the model accounted for 25.20% and 28.30% of the variance in frequency and intensity of PSNSU symptoms, respectively. The findings revealed that the dimension of Absorption and Imaginative Involvement partially mediate the associations between depression and both frequency (β = 0.194; 95% C.I.: [0.008, 0.670]) and severity (β = 0.190; 95% C.I.: [0.005, 0.708]) of PSNSU symptoms. Depression, but not anxiety, directly affects the levels of frequency and intensity of PSNSU symptoms.
Conclusions. These findings extend the results of previous studies by showing that PSNSU (both in terms of frequency and intensity of symptoms) might evolve as a consequence of a dissociative experience for individuals who experience depressive symptoms. Specifically, SNSs can be seen as an immersive medium through which people can disconnect from reality to cope with their negative emotions. Interventions aimed at encouraging adaptive coping strategies among people who tend to become immersed in a stimulus while neglecting their surroundings and engage in vivid imagination in response to depressive symptoms might help reduce the risk of PSNSU.
