Procrastination and Problematic Social Network Sites Use in adolescents: a serial mediation model
Background: Problematic Social Network Sites 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. Adolescents represent one of the populations at higher risk of developing PSNSU as a compensatory strategy to manage unpleasant internal states, including psychological distress. Also, the adolescent population is characterized by a high tendency to procrastinate, and high procrastination is linked with higher distress. According to the metacognitive model of addictive behaviors, positive metacognitions about Social Network Sites (SNSs) use could reinforce the association between psychological distress and PSNSU. Therefore, the present research aims to test the serial mediating role of psychological distress and positive metacognitions about SNSs use in the link between procrastination and PSNSU in a sample of Italian adolescents.
Methods: A sample of 201(%Females = 25.40%; Mage = 15.89 ± .82 years; age range = 14-18 years old) Italian adolescents attending the first and second grade of public high schools participate in the study. Well-known self-report measures were used to assess procrastination, psychological distress, positive metacognitions about SNSs use and PSNSU. The mediation model was tested using PROCESS MACRO for SPSS (model 4).
Results: Higher procrastination predicted higher psychological distress (β = .40, p<.001), which in turn predicted higher positive metacognitions about SNSs use (β = .47, p<.001) linked to higher PSNSU (β = .40, p<.001) The indirect effect was significant (.07, 95% CI: [.04, .12]). Also, psychological distress solely mediated the link between procrastination and PSNSU (β= .20, p<.05; indirect effect= .05, 95% CI: [07., .19]) while the single mediating role of positive metacognitions about SNSs use in the link between procrastination and PSNSU was not significant. Finally, procrastination directly predicted PSNSU (β= .23, p<.05; total effect = .40; p<.001). Overall, the model explains 42% of the total variance of PSNSU.
Conclusions: The current findings are in line with both the metacognitive model and the Compensatory Internet Use Theory. On the one hand, adolescents with a high tendency to procrastinate might experience higher psychological distress as procrastination distances them from achieving their goals, and PSNSU could represent a dysfunctional coping strategy to regulate these negative emotional states. On the other hand, the role of positive metacognitions about SNSs as a relevant cognitive process to explain the link between unpleasant internal states and PSNSU was confirmed.
