Abstract Social comparison orientation can have a negative effecton college students’ use of social networking sites. This study aims to explore the relationship between social comparison orientation and social network addiction among college students, as well as the roles of fear of negative evaluation and core self-evaluation in this relationship. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 2,437 college students from five universities in Huai'an city, Jiangsu Province, China, using the Social Comparison Orientation Scale, Social network addiction Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, and Core Self-Evaluation Scale. The results demonstrated that social comparison orientation was significantly positively correlated with fear of negative evaluation and social network addiction. Core self-evaluations weresignificantly negatively correlated with social comparison orientation, fear of negative evaluation, and social network addiction. Social comparison orientation positively predicted social network addiction. Fear of negative evaluation played a mediating role in the relationship between social comparison orientation and social network addiction among college students. Core self-evaluationsmoderated the direct path of the abovementioned mediating model and the first and second half paths of the mediating effect. Enhancing core self-evaluationsamong college students can mitigate the negative impact of a social comparison orientation and the fear of negative evaluationson individuals, which is beneficial for encouraging college students to develop good habits of using social networking sites and improvingtheir mental health levels.
Feng et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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