The Mediating Role of Social and Institutional Trust in the Relationship Between Internet Use and Subjective Well-Being

The nonlinear relationship between internet use and subjective well-being deserves further explanation with reference to the underlying mechanism of how Internet use impacts subjective well-being. We explored the underlying mechanism of the relationship between internet use and subjective well-being and argued that social and institutional trust mediate that relationship. We have tested our hypotheses with the European Social Survey (ESS) data of 14,037 individuals from 22 European countries. We employed the partial least squared-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using WarpPLS 8.0 software. Our data analysis results reveal that the relationship between internet use and subjective well-being is partially mediated by social and institutional trust, such that internet use boosts individuals' social and institutional trust and subsequently increases subjective well-being.