Impulsivity traits and Facebook addiction in young people and the potential mediating role of coping styles

Highlights

• Emotion-focused coping mediated the link between rash impulsiveness and Facebook addiction.

• Avoidance coping style was not a significant mediator.

• Rash impulsiveness, not reward drive, was related to Facebook addiction.

• Emotion-focused coping and rash impulsiveness could be important treatment targets.

Abstract

Impulsivity traits are important predictors of substance use problems and behavioural addictions such as online gaming. However, little is known about to what extent the two related neuropsychological systems of rash impulsiveness and reward drive contribute to Facebook addiction, or the mechanisms of impulsivity risk. The aim of this study was to examine the role of emotion-focused and avoidance coping as potential mediators of the link between rash impulsiveness and Facebook addiction, while controlling for reward drive. Participants (N = 244) were young people aged 18–25 years recruited from the first-year undergraduate research participant pool and via convenience sampling which involved the first author sharing the study on his Facebook page. Participants completed online, validated measures of Facebook addiction, emotion-focused and avoidant coping styles, rash impulsiveness and reward drive. Results showed that when controlling for reward drive, emotion-focused coping mediated the association between rash impulsiveness and Facebook addiction. Results also showed that rash impulsiveness but not reward drive was directly associated with Facebook addiction. These findings have implications for designing targeted cognitive behavioural treatments that consider biologically-based personality factors such as rash impulsiveness and cognitive factors such as emotion-focused coping to reduce harmful levels of Facebook addiction.

Introduction

Facebook addiction, also referred to as problematic Facebook use or Facebook intrusion is described as an excessive attachment to Facebook that negatively impacts on daily functioning (Elphinston & Noller, 2011). Numerous investigations have highlighted the potential detrimental impacts of excessive Facebook use and Facebook addiction on an individual's general wellbeing, as well as psychological, social and physical health (Elphinston & Noller, 2011; Frost & Rickwood, 2017; Kross et al., 2013; Marino, Gini, Vieno & Spada, 2018). This growing evidence suggests that Facebook addiction might be an emerging mental health problem requiring significant attention (Błachnio, Przepiorka & Pantic, 2015; Griffiths, Kuss & Demetrovics, 2014; Ryan, Chester, Reece & Xenos, 2014; Andreassen et al., 2016).

Impulsivity has been widely studied as a strong personality risk factor for adolescent and adult substance use disorders and gambling problems (Gullo et al., 2017; Hodgins & Holub, 2015; Stautz & Cooper, 2013; Verdejo-Garcia, Lawrence & Clark, 2008). Research has also shown that impulsivity is linked with other emerging behavioural addictions yet to be classified as psychiatric conditions, such as Internet addiction (Cao, Su, Liu & Gao, 2007; Lee et al., 2012; Ünsalver & Aktepe, 2017) and online gaming (Şalvarlı & Griffiths, 2019). Although substance use and behavioural addictions share similar biological and behavioural characteristics (Grant, Potenza, Weinstein & Gorelick, 2010; Griffiths, 2005), there is currently limited research exploring how a biological predisposition towards impulsivity conveys risk for Facebook addiction.

There is increasing recognition that impulsivity is not a unitary construct, but rather a family of related but unique dimensions. Two neuropsychologically-based systems of impulsivity have been described: reward sensitivity and appetitive motivation towards goals (reward sensitivity/drive), and difficulty inhibiting approach behaviour despite likely negative consequences (rash impulsiveness) (Dawe, Gullo & Loxton, 2004; Franken, Muris & Georgieva, 2006; Gullo & Dawe, 2008; Gullo, Loxton & Dawe, 2014; Steinberg et al., 2008; Wahlstrom, Collins, White & Luciana, 2010).^.According to this dual-factor model, rash impulsiveness and reward drive are related (Dawe & Loxton, 2004) with both dimensions associated with independent pathways of substance use risk (Gullo, Ward, Dawe, Powell & Jackson, 2011).

Previous studies have suggested that deficits in self-control and impulsive decision-making are implicated in Facebook addiction. Błachnio and Przepiorka (2016) showed that lower levels of self-control were associated with Facebook addiction. Delaney, Stein and Gruber (2017) examined the links between impulsive decision making and Facebook addiction using a delayed reward task. Individuals who chose a small, instant reward (at the expense of a larger, delayed reward) reported higher levels of Facebook addiction. Both studies used unidimensional measures of impulsivity despite the notable shared variance between rash impulsiveness and reward drive (Dawe & Loxton, 2004). The role of reward drive in Facebook addiction is less clear. In studies of Internet addiction, findings have been mixed. Some research has shown that individuals classified as addicted to the Internet scored significantly lower on sensation seeking (Lavin, Marvin, McLarney, Nola & Scott, 1999), which is closely related to reward drive (Gullo et al., 2014), while in other studies, they score higher in sensation seeking (Lin & Tsai, 2002; Müller, Dreier, Beutel & Wölfling, 2016). Given the theoretical distinction between reward drive and rash impulsiveness, we might expect differential effects on addictive behaviours. However, in these studies, it is unknown whether Internet-based behaviours reflect gambling, gaming, or social networking site use and whether highly stimulating sites were visited more frequently. It is also unknown whether the online social networking environment of Facebook provides users with similar rewarding features associated with other behavioural addictions (e.g., gambling; Internet gaming). Previous research has suggested that rash impulsiveness might be a more important predictor of Internet-based addictions than reward drive (Armstrong, Phillips & Saling, 2000; Lavin et al., 1999; Meerkerk, van den Eijnden, Franken & Garretsen, 2010). Overall, previous findings should be interpreted with caution as no studies have accounted for the potential unique contributions of rash impulsiveness and reward drive in the study of Facebook addiction.

Research also points to the role of dysfunctional coping styles such as avoidance or emotion-focused coping (Higgins & Endler, 1995) as important factors in online behavioural addictions. McNicol and Thorsteinnston (2017) showed that individuals addicted to the Internet were more likely to use avoidance and emotion-focused coping styles. Błachnio, Przepiorka and Czuczwar (2017) also found that avoidance coping as well as an emotion-focused coping style were associated with higher levels of Facebook intrusion (addiction) and greater intensity of Facebook use.

There is a basis for proposing that maladaptive coping styles might be mechanisms through which impulsivity influences Facebook addiction. Coping is considered an umbrella term for conscious efforts to regulate emotion, cognition, and behaviour in response to stress (Compas, Connor-Smith, Saltzman, Thomsen & Wadsworth, 2001). In this way, it involves self-reflection which is dependent on self-control resources (Ochsner & Gross, 2008). According to the differential choice model (Galla & Wood, 2015), trait self-control (i.e., low rash impulsiveness) is linked to the use of more reflective coping strategies, rather than automatic or involuntary coping. It is therefore possible that low self-control (impulsive tendencies) might be related to less reflective, and more automatic coping strategies. These strategies are likely to involve emotion-focused, avoidant, and potentially maladaptive styles. Identifying if these cognitive variables might function as modifiable factors carries implications for designing targeted interventions that could effectively prevent or treat Facebook addiction.

The aim of the current research is to investigate the potential mediating role of emotion-focused and avoidance coping styles in the link between rash impulsiveness and Facebook addiction, while controlling for reward drive in young adults. It was hypothesised that rash impulsiveness would be associated with more emotion-focused and avoidant coping, which in turn would be associated with higher levels of Facebook addiction when controlling for reward drive. It was further predicted that rash impulsiveness, not reward drive would be positively associated with Facebook addiction based on: 1) consistent empirical evidence for an association between high rash impulsiveness and Internet-based addiction; 2) inconsistent evidence for reward drive. Reward drive-related traits have been associated with greater and lesser Internet-based addiction, possibly due to the lack of control for shared variance with rash impulsiveness. This is the first study to our knowledge that has examined maladaptive coping styles as potential mediating mechanisms of a two-factor model of impulsivity on Facebook addiction.