JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Social Network Sites (SNSs) have been defined as web services that allow creating a private or semi-private profile, a list of contacts and that gives the possibility to scroll down the list of one’s online friends and to communicate with them [1]. Through these services, adolescents as well as adults can maintain and create new relationships. Adolescents, in particular, can be considered as the main users of these sites since they spend a lot of time on SNSs. Indeed, it is possible to affirm that such sites have a great impact and role on youngsters’ lives and, as affirmed by Brown [2], this population can thus be defined as “the new media generation”. For example, these online services allow individuals to think longer about their own answers while also pondering more on how to express themselves, therefore exerting greater control on the conversation and on the information shared, which is all associated with a desire for self-presentation [2]. Moreover, the need for self-presentation is related to personality traits such as those of the Big-Five, namely Extraversion, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, together with Emotional Stability, Introversion and Narcissism. Personality traits are important also for the motivational aspects, usually related to an underlying social purpose that might predispose an individual to the use of SNSs with the intent of satisfying their particular needs (e.g. self-presentational motives, belongingness needs and interpersonal competency) [2]. Furthermore, in relation to individual predispositions in the frequency of SNSs use, an additional role is played by gender and age. Indeed, a relation between gender differences, motivation, personality traits, self-esteem and specific SNSs usage patterns was observed, thus not only considering the broader frequency of SNSs use.

Objective:

The aim of this paper is the review of the scientific literature concerning the predisposing factors related to the Big-Five personality traits and motivational aspects associated with SNSs use in general, and therefore trying to define a comprehensive outline of the past literature on the matter. The intent is that of understanding who and subsequently how behaves in a certain manner, instead of another, on SNSs, particularly since these sites have become increasingly salient in people’s life experiences already from a young age.

Methods:

A literature review from 2007 to 2017 has been conducted through the academic database of Google Scholar and PsychInfo, in which the following terms were considered as well as their derivatives: predisposing factors, personality traits, psychopathology, social network site, social media, motivation, use, abuse, addiction. The inclusion criteria were: a) specificity to SNSs use, b) predisposing features related to the Big-Five personality traits as reported by the Five Factor Model or Big-5, c) motivational aspects connected to the need for self-presentation, need to belong and interpersonal competency, d) the role of gender and age in self-esteem for SNSs use.

Results:

Results showed nine studies (two reviews and seven types of research) regarding adolescents and adults (aged between 12-55 years), for whom gender and age differences have been considered as fundamental in SNSs use particularly, considering the predisposing features related to the Big-Five personality traits, and analysing the need for self-presentation, the need to belong and interpersonal competency. Findings identify three main personality traits to be of greater value, Extraversion, Neuroticism and Openness to Experience. Extraversion was the one better predicting motivation and SNSs use, while the latter trait showed relevance for age differences. All three features further played a role in gender differences. The self-presentational motive, besides Extraversion, was also related to Narcissism, while the need to belong presented an association with Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Further underlining the social value behind SNSs use, people perceived interpersonal competency was related to the intensity of Facebook use.

Conclusions:

The present review aimed to develop a cohesive outline of the past literature in relation to SNSs use, through the consideration of the factors influencing it, specifically motivation and personality traits as well as personal variables, such as age and gender. Regarding personality traits, Extraversion has been recognized as the main forerunner for SNSs use and motivation for use, by recreating online the offline social dynamics, still SNSs offer advantages also for the ‘socially awkward’. Another relevant dimension is Neuroticism, which value has been speculated to be related to an attempt of compensating for their difficulty in offline social contexts. In addition to individual differences, gender and age differences have been investigated. For the latter, Openness to Experiences has shown the greatest relevance as for adults and older adults SNSs are still perceived as a novelty. Differently, gender differences in SNSs usage were observed to be the product of differences in motivation. Limitation and further research: Considering psychopathology and its relation with SNSs, as for addiction, no results have emerged. Hypothetically, this lack of research might be due to reasons such as the relatively short period of time passed since the spread of SNSs usage for which it would be too soon to assess pathological consequences. Further research is highly recommended, also focusing on the age differences possibly mediating the relation between SNSs use and/or abuse and psychopathology. Moreover, future investigations should further consider the role of Narcissism, which relevance exceeds that of Extraversion in regard to self-presentational motives. A limitation remains of many past studies the only consideration of Facebook and as such a suggestion for future research can be prompt for the consideration of the other varied types of SNSs.