Social support and self-concept clarity as mediators between college students’ passive social network site use and loneliness

AbstractThe current study tested the mediating roles of social support and self-concept clarity in the relationship between passive social network site use and loneliness. A total of 709 undergraduate students (females = 44.15%, mean age = 19.10, SD = 0.95) completed the Passive Social Network Questionnaire, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Self-Concept Clarity Scale as well as the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Latent variables structural equation modelling analysis indicated that passive social network site use was negatively associated with loneliness. Social support and self-concept clarity significantly mediated the relationship between passive social network site use and loneliness, reducing the risk for loneliness, and with sequential mediating effects of social support and self-esteem. This study's findings suggest that the passive use of social networking sites can help students gain more social support, improve self-concept clarity, and in turn reduce loneliness. Increasing social support and enhancing self-concept clarity through psychological intervention programmes may be an effective way to reduce individual loneliness.Keywords: passive social network sites uselonelinessperceived social supportself-concept claritymediating effects Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.Ethical approvalAll procedures performed in studies involving human participants followed the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.Informed consentInformed consent was obtained from each of the participants included in the study.Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project (no. 24NDQN139YBM); the "14th Five-Year Plan" for General Undergraduate Colleges and Universities in Zhejiang Province (no. jg20220541); and the 2023 General Research Project of Zhejiang Education Department (for professional degree graduates) (no. Y202352296).