Lower Self‐Control Is Associated With More Standard, Reputation Management, and Maladaptive Facebook Use

Social media can help fulfill the need for belonging. Past work suggests that frequent or extreme Facebook use can engender costs to the self and relationships, such that self-control may be associated with Facebook use. Indeed, trait self-control was negatively associated with standard, reputation management, and maladaptive Facebook use (Study 1, N = 309), above extraversion, self-esteem, and perceptions of own attractiveness (Study 2, N = 527). Further, trait self-control was negatively associated with actual reputation management behavior online: people with lower (vs. higher) self-control were more likely to post written or image content of themselves vs. a book in a Facebook group (Study 2). Together, results suggest that higher self-control is associated with less Facebook use across the spectrum – standard use (e.g., posting, commenting, changing pictures), reputation management use (i.e., use to manage others’ perceptions of oneself), and maladaptive use (i.e., feeling negative affect as a result of comparisons to others online or not receiving positive feedback to one’s use).