Social network usage, shame, guilt and pride among high school students: Model testing

Abstract

This study was aimed at testing a model which applies structural equation modeling (SEM) to explain social networking sites (SNS) usage. Performing SEM with a sample of 500 high school students (40% male, 60% female), the model examined the relationships among shame, guilt and pride on SNS, such Facebook and Twitter. It was hypothesized that SNS usage was predicted directly by shame and indirectly by pride and guilt. The SEM showed that shame affected SNS usage directly and positively, while guilt and pride indirectly affected SNS via shame. The fit indices of SEM produced good fit values (χ2 = 0.11, df = 2, χ2/df = 0.055, p = 0.94532, RMSEA = 0.00, GFI = 1.00, AGFI = 1.00, NFI = 1.00, NNFI = 1.00, CFI = 1.00, IFI = 1.00, RMR = 0.039; SRMR = 0.0042). According to these results, high school students’ feelings of shame, guilt and pride are important predictors of SNS usage.