Investigating the mediating role of social support in the relationship between addiction to social network, media literacy and emotional intelligence

Abstract

This research aims to provide a theoretical model to explain addiction to social network using media literacy and emotional intelligence as independent variables and social support as the mediator. The study population includes all students of Bojnord's university in 2017-2018 academic year. It was determined based on three indices: a medium effect size of 0.30, a test power of 0.85, and an alpha of 0.05. A sample of 160 people was determined by G-Power software, and 178 questionnaires were completed. The sampling was conducted using available sampling method. To do so, the link of research questionnaires was offered to volunteer students. The main research instruments were: social support questionnaire, addiction to social network questionnaire, emotional intelligence questionnaire and multidimensional social support questionnaire. The exploratory nature of research data was analyzed by partial least squares method and PLS software. Results showed the reliability of the measurement model, the structural model and the overall research model (GOF=0.66). According to the results, all direct effects were significant. That is, social support(r=0.84, <em>p </em><0.0001), media literacy (r=0.698, <em>p </em><0.0001) and emotional intelligence (r=0.798, <em>p </em><0.0001) were significantly correlated with addiction to virtual social network. Also, Sobel statistics and its significance level suggested the indirect effect of media literacy (<em>p </em><0.024) and emotional intelligence (<em>p </em><0.011) on addiction to social network through social support. Emotional impulse control, awareness of media content and processes, and a sense of belonging and relationship with other people in the real world predict addiction to virtual social networks. Hence, the social support of government and authentic sources can mediate the association between addiction to social network and emotional intelligence in university students and improve their media literacy.