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      Psychological risk factors of addiction to social networking sites among Chinese smartphone users

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          Abstract

          Background and aims

          Smartphones allow users to access social networking sites (SNSs) whenever and wherever they want. Such easy availability and accessibility may increase their vulnerability to addiction. Based on the social cognitive theory (SCT), we examined the impacts of outcome expectancies, self-efficacy, and impulsivity on young Chinese smartphone users’ addictive tendencies toward SNSs.

          Methods

          Two hundred seventy-seven Macau young smartphone users (116 males and 161 females; mean age = 26.62) filled out an online Chinese questionnaire concerning their usage of social networking sites via smartphones, addiction tendencies toward SNSs, impulsivity trait, outcome expectancies toward the use, and Internet self-efficacy.

          Results

          The findings revealed that those who spent more time on SNSs also reported higher addictive tendencies. Addictive tendencies were positively correlated with both outcome expectancies and impulsivity, but negatively associated with Internet self-efficacy. These three psychological variables explained 23% of the variance in addictive tendencies.

          Conclusions

          The findings of this study suggest that, compared to demographics, psychological factors provide a better account for addictive tendencies towards SNSs among Chinese smartphone users in Macau. The three psychological risk factors were low Internet self-efficacy, favorable outcome expectancies, and high impulsivity trait. Educational campaigns with screening procedures for high-risk groups are recommended for effective prevention and treatment.

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          Most cited references51

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          Being immersed in social networking environment: Facebook groups, uses and gratifications, and social outcomes.

          A Web survey of 1,715 college students was conducted to examine Facebook Groups users' gratifications and the relationship between users' gratifications and their political and civic participation offline. A factor analysis revealed four primary needs for participating in groups within Facebook: socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and information. These gratifications vary depending on user demographics such as gender, hometown, and year in school. The analysis of the relationship between users' needs and civic and political participation indicated that, as predicted, informational uses were more correlated to civic and political action than to recreational uses.
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            Emotion-based dispositions to rash action: positive and negative urgency.

            Under heightened emotional states, individuals are more inclined to engage in ill-considered or rash actions than at other times. The authors present evidence for the existence of 2 related traits called positive and negative urgency. The traits refer to individual differences in the disposition to engage in rash action when experiencing extreme positive and negative affect, respectively. The authors provide evidence that these traits are distinct from other dispositions toward rash action and that they play distinct roles in predicting problem levels of involvement in behaviors such as alcohol consumption, binge eating, drug use, and risky sexual behavior. The authors identify facilitative conditions for the emergence of the urgency traits from neuroscience. Certain gene polymorphisms are associated with low levels of serotonin and high levels of dopamine; that pattern of neurotransmitter activity in a brain system linking the orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala appears to facilitate the development of positive and negative urgency. The authors discuss the implications of this theory.
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              • Article: not found

              Genetic influences on impulsivity, risk taking, stress responsivity and vulnerability to drug abuse and addiction.

              Genetic variation may partially underlie complex personality and physiological traits--such as impulsivity, risk taking and stress responsivity--as well as a substantial proportion of vulnerability to addictive diseases. Furthermore, personality and physiological traits themselves may differentially affect the various stages of addiction, defined chronologically as initiation of drug use, regular drug use, addiction/dependence and potentially relapse. Here we focus on recent approaches to the study of genetic variation in these personality and physiological traits, and their influence on and interaction with addictive diseases.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                2006
                122266
                Journal of Behavioral Addictions
                JBA
                Akadémiai Kiadó, co-published with Springer Science+Business Media B.V., Formerly Kluwer Academic Publishers B.V.
                2062-5871
                2063-5303
                1 September 2013
                12 April 2013
                : 2
                : 3
                : 160-166
                Affiliations
                [ 1 ] University of Macau, Macau, China
                [ 2 ] Centennial College, Hong Kong, China
                [ 3 ] Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomas Pereira, Taipa, Macau, China
                Author notes
                Article
                6
                10.1556/jba.2.2013.006
                8bd3eca2-590a-4e28-bd59-d799e5306c1d
                © 2013 The Author(s)

                Open Access statement. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author and source are credited, a link to the CC License is provided, and changes – if any – are indicated.

                History
                : 2 November 2012
                : 27 March 2013
                : 27 March 2013
                Categories
                Full-Length Report

                Medicine,Psychology,Social & Behavioral Sciences,Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
                Chinese,social cognitive theory,impulsivity,smartphone,addiction,social networking site

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