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The Relationship Between Loneliness and the Overuse of WeChat Among Chinese Elderly: The Chain Mediation Role of Sensation Seeking and Fear of Missing Out

Background: With the advent of new media technology, WeChat, as China's largest social networking platform, has significantly impacted people's lives. Growing concerns exist about social media usage, particularly regarding mental health issues stemming from problematic smartphone use. Howe...

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Main Authors: Cui, Shoukui, Jiang, Junjie, Mu, Liping
Format: Article
Published: Dove Medical Press Ltd 2024
Subjects:
BF Psychology
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/47080/
https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S467221
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spelling my.um.eprints.470802025-01-03T08:21:17Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/47080/ The Relationship Between Loneliness and the Overuse of WeChat Among Chinese Elderly: The Chain Mediation Role of Sensation Seeking and Fear of Missing Out Cui, Shoukui Jiang, Junjie Mu, Liping BF Psychology Background: With the advent of new media technology, WeChat, as China's largest social networking platform, has significantly impacted people's lives. Growing concerns exist about social media usage, particularly regarding mental health issues stemming from problematic smartphone use. However, limited research has explored the relationship between social media usage and mental health among older adults in China, particularly the mechanisms influencing this relationship. This study addresses this gap by investigating the relationship between excessive WeChat use and loneliness among older adults, examining the mediating roles of sensation seeking and fear of missing out (FoMO). Methods: To clarify the intermediary role of sensation seeking and FoMO in the relationship between elderly loneliness and problematic phone use, this study employed the loneliness scale, brief sensation seeking scale, the scale of FoMO and WeChat overuse scale in a questionnaire survey on the Chinese elderly aged 55 to 89 (N=913). A chained mediation model was constructed, with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and mediation effect tests performed. Results: The results indicate that the relationship between loneliness and excessive WeChat use among Chinese elderly is mediated by sensation seeking and FoMO. Conclusion: The findings reveal that loneliness, sensation seeking and FoMO and problematic mobile phone use (WeChat) are interconnected; (ii) sensation seeking and FoMO are the two important intermediary mechanisms between loneliness and problematic mobile phone use; and (iii) sensation seeking and FoMO can act as mediators in the relationship between loneliness and problematic mobile phone use among the elderly. In the difference test of demographic variables, it was found that women had more WeChat overuse behavior than men, and urban residents demonstrated significantly higher levels of overuse than their township residents. The study has revealed the psychological mechanism between loneliness and problematic mobile phone use among the elderly, which provides guiding suggestions for the prevention and intervention of such behaviors in the elderly. Dove Medical Press Ltd 2024 Article PeerReviewed Cui, Shoukui and Jiang, Junjie and Mu, Liping (2024) The Relationship Between Loneliness and the Overuse of WeChat Among Chinese Elderly: The Chain Mediation Role of Sensation Seeking and Fear of Missing Out. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 17. pp. 3067-3081. ISSN 1179-1578, DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S467221 <https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S467221>. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S467221 10.2147/PRBM.S467221
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic BF Psychology
spellingShingle BF Psychology
Cui, Shoukui
Jiang, Junjie
Mu, Liping
The Relationship Between Loneliness and the Overuse of WeChat Among Chinese Elderly: The Chain Mediation Role of Sensation Seeking and Fear of Missing Out
description Background: With the advent of new media technology, WeChat, as China's largest social networking platform, has significantly impacted people's lives. Growing concerns exist about social media usage, particularly regarding mental health issues stemming from problematic smartphone use. However, limited research has explored the relationship between social media usage and mental health among older adults in China, particularly the mechanisms influencing this relationship. This study addresses this gap by investigating the relationship between excessive WeChat use and loneliness among older adults, examining the mediating roles of sensation seeking and fear of missing out (FoMO). Methods: To clarify the intermediary role of sensation seeking and FoMO in the relationship between elderly loneliness and problematic phone use, this study employed the loneliness scale, brief sensation seeking scale, the scale of FoMO and WeChat overuse scale in a questionnaire survey on the Chinese elderly aged 55 to 89 (N=913). A chained mediation model was constructed, with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and mediation effect tests performed. Results: The results indicate that the relationship between loneliness and excessive WeChat use among Chinese elderly is mediated by sensation seeking and FoMO. Conclusion: The findings reveal that loneliness, sensation seeking and FoMO and problematic mobile phone use (WeChat) are interconnected; (ii) sensation seeking and FoMO are the two important intermediary mechanisms between loneliness and problematic mobile phone use; and (iii) sensation seeking and FoMO can act as mediators in the relationship between loneliness and problematic mobile phone use among the elderly. In the difference test of demographic variables, it was found that women had more WeChat overuse behavior than men, and urban residents demonstrated significantly higher levels of overuse than their township residents. The study has revealed the psychological mechanism between loneliness and problematic mobile phone use among the elderly, which provides guiding suggestions for the prevention and intervention of such behaviors in the elderly.
format Article
author Cui, Shoukui
Jiang, Junjie
Mu, Liping
author_facet Cui, Shoukui
Jiang, Junjie
Mu, Liping
author_sort Cui, Shoukui
title The Relationship Between Loneliness and the Overuse of WeChat Among Chinese Elderly: The Chain Mediation Role of Sensation Seeking and Fear of Missing Out
title_short The Relationship Between Loneliness and the Overuse of WeChat Among Chinese Elderly: The Chain Mediation Role of Sensation Seeking and Fear of Missing Out
title_full The Relationship Between Loneliness and the Overuse of WeChat Among Chinese Elderly: The Chain Mediation Role of Sensation Seeking and Fear of Missing Out
title_fullStr The Relationship Between Loneliness and the Overuse of WeChat Among Chinese Elderly: The Chain Mediation Role of Sensation Seeking and Fear of Missing Out
title_full_unstemmed The Relationship Between Loneliness and the Overuse of WeChat Among Chinese Elderly: The Chain Mediation Role of Sensation Seeking and Fear of Missing Out
title_sort relationship between loneliness and the overuse of wechat among chinese elderly: the chain mediation role of sensation seeking and fear of missing out
publisher Dove Medical Press Ltd
publishDate 2024
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/47080/
https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S467221
_version_ 1821001885750919168
score 13.226497

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