<section id="sec0001" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px;"><p id="para0011" style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Use of the social networking site (SNS) Facebook often serves as a possibility to escape from daily stress, improve mood, and find relief</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Previous research described two forms of Facebook use: passive and active use</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Passive use indicates the monitoring of activities of other Facebook members without engaging in direct interaction with them and without the presence of one's information (for example, browsing the news feed, viewing pictures, and status updates posted by others).</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;Active use is targeted at direct social interaction with other Facebook members and the presentation of one's information via writing private messages, setting “Likes”, and posting written status updates, pictures, and public comments</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">.</span></p><p id="para0012" style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">In the longer-term, passive Facebook use can lead to upward social comparisons that result in feelings of envy and dissatisfaction because other members are judged to be happier than themselves</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. In contrast, active Facebook use can contribute to the experience of social support and positive emotions.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;Furthermore, active Facebook use is positively linked to the experience of “flow” </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;– an intensive form of enjoyment and happiness linked to total involvement in the task performed</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. The experience of “flow” can contribute to further intensive intrusion into the Facebook world.</span></p><p id="para0013" style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">However, the intensity of Facebook use and Facebook “flow” were assumed to foster the development of an emotional bond to the platform that is linked to an addictive need to stay permanently online. This phenomenon has been termed Facebook Addiction (FA) and was assessed as behavioral addiction</span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;defined by six core characteristics/symptoms of behavioral addiction that are salience (permanent thinking of the behavior of concern), tolerance (enhanced amount of time on the behavior of concern is required to achieve former effects), mood modification (intensive engagement in the behavior of concern for mood improvement), relapse (reverting to earlier behavioral pattern after ineffective attempts to reduce the behavior of concern), withdrawal symptoms (psychological and/or physiological uneasiness without the behavior of concern), and conflict (interpersonal problems caused by intensive engagement in the behavior of concern). All characteristics should be present to define a behavioral addiction. This issue differs from a behavioral addiction to a very intensive or excessive behavior that might have addictive elements but is not an addiction</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Based on the concept of behavioral addictions Griffiths&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">defined FA by six typical characteristics (i.e., salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal symptoms, and conflict). Notably, FA is not recognized as a formal psychiatric disorder in the diagnostic and statistical annual of mental disorders&nbsp;</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">or the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/international-classification-of-diseases" title="Learn more about international classification of diseases from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages" class="topic-link" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; text-decoration-color: rgb(46, 46, 46); color: rgb(46, 46, 46); word-break: break-word; text-underline-offset: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">international classification of diseases</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Moreover, the existence of behavioral addictions – especially those linked to online activity – is a critically discussed topic. Some researchers emphasized that intensive online activity should not be over-pathologized</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. However, it is important to consider that FA is positively associated with daily stress and anxiety symptoms</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. A longitudinal study reported its positive relationship with insomnia up to six weeks later.</span></p><p id="para0013" style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><img src="/media/django-summernote/2022-11-15/8fe24de2-367c-4ebd-95df-d298bc555512.png" style="width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><br></span></p><p id="para0014" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Persons with increased depression symptoms were assumed to be at enhanced risk for high levels of FA</span><font color="#2e2e2e" face="Helvetica">. They often use intensive Facebook to improve their mood and forget their overwhelming problems offline. However, this can, on the one hand, contribute to an emotional bond to the SNS that might result in the development of addictive symptoms. On the other hand, intensive online activity can contribute to further interpersonal conflicts at home and work due to the negligence of obligations that might evoke stress symptoms and result in further escape into the online world as a dysfunctional coping strategy.</font></p><p id="para0015" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;emphasized that addiction always results from a complex interplay of various individual and environmental factors and mechanisms. Against this background and considering the high popularity of Facebook that currently has more than 1.91 billion daily users and</span><span style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;the negative association of FA with well-being</span><span style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">, it is highly desirable to understand the mechanisms that can underly its development. Therefore, the present study aimed to extend the available knowledge on potential predictors of FA that is mostly based on cross-sectional results&nbsp;</span><span style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">by longitudinal findings (i.e., two measurement time points (T1 and T2) with a time interval of three months). Based on previous results, we expected FA (T2) to be positively linked to Facebook flow (T1) (Hypothesis 1a) and depression symptoms (T1) (Hypothesis 1b). Active Facebook use is typically accompanied by positive feedback that fosters further Facebook consumption</span><span style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;and thus might increase one's vulnerability for FA. Therefore, we assumed active Facebook use (T1) to be positively related to FA (T2) (Hypothesis 1c).&nbsp;</span><span style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">reported active disclosure of personal information on Facebook to be positively linked to Facebook flow.&nbsp;</span><font color="#2e2e2e" face="Helvetica">&nbsp;Brailovskaia et al. (2018) assumed Facebook flow to be an antecedent of FA in a cross-sectional study&nbsp;</font><span style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">assumed Facebook flow was an antecedent of FA. Thus, we hypothesized that Facebook flow (T1) positively mediates the association between active Facebook use (T1) and FA (T2) (Hypothesis 2).</span></p><p id="para0016" style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">So far, only a little research investigated the association between passive Facebook use and FA. Available studies revealed inconsistent findings. While some research reported a positive relationship between passive Facebook use and FA</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">, there was no significant link between both variables in another investigation</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Thus, on the one hand, it could be speculated that observation of for example amusing photos uploaded by other users contributes to mood enhancement that leads to further Facebook consumption and the development of FA. On the other hand, previous research reported passive observation of others’ activities on Facebook to evoke feelings of envy and dissatisfaction</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. The negative experiences might reduce Facebook use intensity which could explain the non-significant association between passive use and FA. Considering that both scenarios are possible and to avoid speculations, two research questions were formulated:</span></p><p id="para0017" style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><b>How is passive Facebook use (T1) related to FA (T2)? (Research Question 1)</b></span></p><p id="para0017" style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Does Facebook flow (T1) mediate the relationship between passive Facebook use (T1) and FA (T2)? (Research Question 2)</span></p></section><section id="sec0002" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><h2 id="cesectitle0010" class="u-h3 u-margin-l-top u-margin-xs-bottom" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(80, 80, 80); margin-top: 32px !important; margin-bottom: 8px !important; font-size: 1.2rem !important; line-height: 1.333 !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><b>&nbsp;Methods:</b></span></h2><h2 id="cesectitle0010" class="u-h3 u-margin-l-top u-margin-xs-bottom" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(80, 80, 80); margin-top: 32px !important; margin-bottom: 8px !important; font-size: 1.2rem !important; line-height: 1.333 !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><b>procedure is...</b></span></h2><section id="sec0003" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px;"><p id="para0019" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Participants were recruited through flyers displayed on social media, public places, and universities in Germany. The requirement for participation that was voluntary and not compensated was a current Facebook membership and the agreement to participate in both online surveys. The 138 participants who completed the first survey (= T1), were contacted by e-mail three months later to complete the second survey (= T2). In total, 127 persons completed both surveys (78.7% women; T1:&nbsp;</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">M</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; bottom: -0.25em; font-family: Helvetica;">age</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;(</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">SD</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; bottom: -0.25em; font-family: Helvetica;">age</span></em><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">) = 25.10 (7.03), range: 18–58; occupation: 78.7% students, 21.3% employees; marital status: 35.4% single, 52.8% in a relationship, 11.8% married). The responsible Ethics Committee approved the implementation of the current study. All subjects were informed about the study and gave&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/informed-consent" title="Learn more about informed consent from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages" class="topic-link" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; text-decoration-color: rgb(46, 46, 46); color: rgb(46, 46, 46); word-break: break-word; text-underline-offset: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">informed consent</span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;to participate via an online form. All variables were assessed at both measurement time points (exception: FA, only T2).</span></span></p><p id="para0019" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><br></span></span></p><h2 id="cesectitle0014" class="u-h3 u-margin-l-top u-margin-xs-bottom" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; margin-top: 32px !important; margin-bottom: 8px !important; font-size: 1.2rem !important; line-height: 1.333 !important;"><b><span style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Helvetica;">Results:</span></b></h2><p id="para0019" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></p><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p id="para0025" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;Furthermore, the correlation analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between active Facebook use (T1 and T2) and passive Facebook use (T1 and T2) (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">p</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;.01). Both forms of use (T1 and T2) were significantly positively correlated with the Facebook flow (T1 and T2) (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">p</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;.01). Depression symptoms (T1) were significantly positively correlated with the Facebook flow (T2) (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">p</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;.05). The below figure shows</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;presents the results of the bootstrapped mediation analysis. Facebook flow (T1) significantly positively mediated the relationship between active Facebook use (T1) and FA (T2). The basic relationship between active Facebook use (T1) and FA (T2) was significant (total effect,&nbsp;</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">c: p</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;.001). After the inclusion of Facebook flow (T1) in the model, the link between both variables was no longer significant (direct effect,&nbsp;</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">ca: p</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;=&nbsp;.063). The association between active Facebook use (T1) and Facebook flow (T1) (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">a: p</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;.001), and the relationship between Facebook flow (T1) and FA (T2) (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">b: p</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;.001) were significant, as well as the indirect effect (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">ab</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">),&nbsp;</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">b</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;=&nbsp;.16, SE&nbsp;=&nbsp;.06, 95% CI [.06, .28].</span></p><p id="para0025" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><img src="/media/django-summernote/2022-11-15/a1e5c25d-04ac-47e2-bdd7-8b62b96fa1e0.png" style="width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><br></span></p><p id="para0025" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">The check test revealed that active Facebook use (T1) did not mediate the association between Facebook flow (T1) and FA (T2). The total effect was significant (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">c: b</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;=&nbsp;.18, SE&nbsp;=&nbsp;.04, 95% CI [.11, .25],&nbsp;</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">p</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;.001). After the inclusion of the mediator in the model, the direct effect remained significant (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">ca: b</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;=&nbsp;.15, SE&nbsp;=&nbsp;.04, 95% CI [.07, .23], (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">p</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;.001). The indirect effect (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">ab</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">) was not significant (</span><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">b</span></em><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;=&nbsp;.03, SE&nbsp;=&nbsp;.02, 95% CI [−.01, .08].</span><br></p></div></section></section>