Mediating Role of Self-Compassion in the Relationship between Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Social Networking Site Addiction in Indian Adolescents

Description

Karni Panwar and Roopa Mathur (Department of Psychology, IIS (deemed to be University), Jaipur, Rajasthan)

With social media becoming deeply embedded in adolescent life, concerns have intensified regarding patterns of use that resemble behavioural addiction. Identifying psychological vulnerabilities that contribute to such problematic engagement has therefore become a key area of inquiry. The present study set out to investigate whether difficulties in emotion regulation is linked to social networking site addiction among Indian adolescents, and whether self-compassion plays a mediating role in this association. The study involved 200 adolescents aged 13-18 who met the threshold for social networking site addiction on the Social Networking Site Addiction Scale (Shahnawaz & Rehman, 2020). After screening, participants completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form (Kaufman et al., 2016) and the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (Raes et al., 2011). Data were analysed using correlational methods, regression analysis, and mediation testing through Hayes’ PROCESS Macro (Model 4) in SPSS Version 26. Results indicated that emotion regulation difficulties and self-compassion together accounted for 28.1% of the variance in social networking site addiction scores (p < .01). Self-compassion was found to partially mediate the link between emotion regulation difficulties and social networking site addiction, suggesting that adolescents with poorer emotion regulation may be more susceptible to addictive social networking site use in part due to reduced levels of self-compassion. These outcomes highlight self-compassion as a meaningful protective factor and point to its potential in intervention programmes designed to curb social networking site addiction among Indian adolescents.