The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment

Yun Luo; Yan Jiang

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17

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The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment

Yun Luo, Yan Jiang

Published in American Journal of Applied Psychology (Volume 10, Issue 6)

Received: 9 December 2021 Accepted: 20 December 2021 Published: 24 December 2021

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Abstract

Previous studies have found that the use of social media has an impact on adolescents’ empathy. For example, uploading photos on WeChat, playing online games, and establishing two-way communication enable teenagers to have greater emotional support and can effectively reduce social anxiety, depression, and loneliness as well as enhance intimacy and happiness. To explore the influence of problematic mobile social media use on teenagers’ empathy and the role of peer attachment in their relationship. In this study, the mobile social media use of 1,157 adolescents was measured through an adolescent problematic mobile social media use assessment questionnaire, an interpersonal response index questionnaire, and an adolescent peer attachment questionnaire. According to the theory of emotional sharing, a regulatory model was constructed, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) problematic mobile social media use is significantly positively correlated with adolescents’ empathy and peer attachment, between which there is a significant positive correlation; and (2) peer attachment plays a moderating role in the relationship between problematic mobile social media use and empathy. When peer communication is high, the positive predictive effect of problematic mobile social media use on empathy is enhanced. The concrete manifestation is that, For low peer attachment individuals, regardless of whether teenagers use mobile social media more or less, they have lower empathy scores, while for high peer attachment individuals, regardless of the mobile social media use, they have higher empathy scores. This result shows that high peer communication can increase teenagers' empathy ability.

Published in	American Journal of Applied Psychology (Volume 10, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17
Page(s)	178-183
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Problematic Mobile Social Media Use, Adolescent, Empathy, Peer Attachment

References

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APA Style

Yun Luo, Yan Jiang. (2021). The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment. American Journal of Applied Psychology, 10(6), 178-183. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17

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ACS Style

Yun Luo; Yan Jiang. The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment. Am. J. Appl. Psychol. 2021, 10(6), 178-183. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17

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AMA Style

Yun Luo, Yan Jiang. The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment. Am J Appl Psychol. 2021;10(6):178-183. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17

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@article{10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17,
  author = {Yun Luo and Yan Jiang},
  title = {The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment},
  journal = {American Journal of Applied Psychology},
  volume = {10},
  number = {6},
  pages = {178-183},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajap.20211006.17},
  abstract = {Previous studies have found that the use of social media has an impact on adolescents’ empathy. For example, uploading photos on WeChat, playing online games, and establishing two-way communication enable teenagers to have greater emotional support and can effectively reduce social anxiety, depression, and loneliness as well as enhance intimacy and happiness. To explore the influence of problematic mobile social media use on teenagers’ empathy and the role of peer attachment in their relationship. In this study, the mobile social media use of 1,157 adolescents was measured through an adolescent problematic mobile social media use assessment questionnaire, an interpersonal response index questionnaire, and an adolescent peer attachment questionnaire. According to the theory of emotional sharing, a regulatory model was constructed, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) problematic mobile social media use is significantly positively correlated with adolescents’ empathy and peer attachment, between which there is a significant positive correlation; and (2) peer attachment plays a moderating role in the relationship between problematic mobile social media use and empathy. When peer communication is high, the positive predictive effect of problematic mobile social media use on empathy is enhanced. The concrete manifestation is that, For low peer attachment individuals, regardless of whether teenagers use mobile social media more or less, they have lower empathy scores, while for high peer attachment individuals, regardless of the mobile social media use, they have higher empathy scores. This result shows that high peer communication can increase teenagers' empathy ability.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment
AU  - Yun Luo
AU  - Yan Jiang
Y1  - 2021/12/24
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17
T2  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JF  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JO  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
SP  - 178
EP  - 183
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5672
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17
AB  - Previous studies have found that the use of social media has an impact on adolescents’ empathy. For example, uploading photos on WeChat, playing online games, and establishing two-way communication enable teenagers to have greater emotional support and can effectively reduce social anxiety, depression, and loneliness as well as enhance intimacy and happiness. To explore the influence of problematic mobile social media use on teenagers’ empathy and the role of peer attachment in their relationship. In this study, the mobile social media use of 1,157 adolescents was measured through an adolescent problematic mobile social media use assessment questionnaire, an interpersonal response index questionnaire, and an adolescent peer attachment questionnaire. According to the theory of emotional sharing, a regulatory model was constructed, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) problematic mobile social media use is significantly positively correlated with adolescents’ empathy and peer attachment, between which there is a significant positive correlation; and (2) peer attachment plays a moderating role in the relationship between problematic mobile social media use and empathy. When peer communication is high, the positive predictive effect of problematic mobile social media use on empathy is enhanced. The concrete manifestation is that, For low peer attachment individuals, regardless of whether teenagers use mobile social media more or less, they have lower empathy scores, while for high peer attachment individuals, regardless of the mobile social media use, they have higher empathy scores. This result shows that high peer communication can increase teenagers' empathy ability.
VL  - 10
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Author Information

Yun Luo

School of Education, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing, China
Yan Jiang

Psychological Counseling Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Yun Luo, Yan Jiang. (2021). The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment. American Journal of Applied Psychology, 10(6), 178-183. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17

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ACS Style

Yun Luo; Yan Jiang. The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment. Am. J. Appl. Psychol. 2021, 10(6), 178-183. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17

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AMA Style

Yun Luo, Yan Jiang. The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment. Am J Appl Psychol. 2021;10(6):178-183. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17

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@article{10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17,
  author = {Yun Luo and Yan Jiang},
  title = {The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment},
  journal = {American Journal of Applied Psychology},
  volume = {10},
  number = {6},
  pages = {178-183},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajap.20211006.17},
  abstract = {Previous studies have found that the use of social media has an impact on adolescents’ empathy. For example, uploading photos on WeChat, playing online games, and establishing two-way communication enable teenagers to have greater emotional support and can effectively reduce social anxiety, depression, and loneliness as well as enhance intimacy and happiness. To explore the influence of problematic mobile social media use on teenagers’ empathy and the role of peer attachment in their relationship. In this study, the mobile social media use of 1,157 adolescents was measured through an adolescent problematic mobile social media use assessment questionnaire, an interpersonal response index questionnaire, and an adolescent peer attachment questionnaire. According to the theory of emotional sharing, a regulatory model was constructed, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) problematic mobile social media use is significantly positively correlated with adolescents’ empathy and peer attachment, between which there is a significant positive correlation; and (2) peer attachment plays a moderating role in the relationship between problematic mobile social media use and empathy. When peer communication is high, the positive predictive effect of problematic mobile social media use on empathy is enhanced. The concrete manifestation is that, For low peer attachment individuals, regardless of whether teenagers use mobile social media more or less, they have lower empathy scores, while for high peer attachment individuals, regardless of the mobile social media use, they have higher empathy scores. This result shows that high peer communication can increase teenagers' empathy ability.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Influence of Problematic Mobile Social Media Use on Adolescent Empathy and the Moderating Effect of Peer Attachment
AU  - Yun Luo
AU  - Yan Jiang
Y1  - 2021/12/24
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17
T2  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JF  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JO  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
SP  - 178
EP  - 183
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5672
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20211006.17
AB  - Previous studies have found that the use of social media has an impact on adolescents’ empathy. For example, uploading photos on WeChat, playing online games, and establishing two-way communication enable teenagers to have greater emotional support and can effectively reduce social anxiety, depression, and loneliness as well as enhance intimacy and happiness. To explore the influence of problematic mobile social media use on teenagers’ empathy and the role of peer attachment in their relationship. In this study, the mobile social media use of 1,157 adolescents was measured through an adolescent problematic mobile social media use assessment questionnaire, an interpersonal response index questionnaire, and an adolescent peer attachment questionnaire. According to the theory of emotional sharing, a regulatory model was constructed, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) problematic mobile social media use is significantly positively correlated with adolescents’ empathy and peer attachment, between which there is a significant positive correlation; and (2) peer attachment plays a moderating role in the relationship between problematic mobile social media use and empathy. When peer communication is high, the positive predictive effect of problematic mobile social media use on empathy is enhanced. The concrete manifestation is that, For low peer attachment individuals, regardless of whether teenagers use mobile social media more or less, they have lower empathy scores, while for high peer attachment individuals, regardless of the mobile social media use, they have higher empathy scores. This result shows that high peer communication can increase teenagers' empathy ability.
VL  - 10
IS  - 6
ER  -

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