Relationship Between Facebook Problematic use and Pathological Personality Traits: a Systematic Review

Abstract

We aimed to investigate relationships between Facebook problematic use (Facebook PU) and pathological traits of personality, by a systematic review. The literature search was proceeded based on a search strategy including the keywords “Facebook”, “problematic use” and “personality”. We found a total of 236 publications and selected 21 papers for full verification. All of them were excluded, characterizing an empty review. As an attempt to increase the probability of finding eligible publications, first, we have broadened the search of the systematic review from “Facebook” to “social network sites” (and variations); and then from “social network sites” to “internet”. Regarding this last change, the final set of publications after full reading based on the eligibility criteria was composed by 15 papers. We emphasize that there was no empirical evidence on the relationship between Facebook PU and pathological traits of personality. Given the proximity between Facebook PU and internet addiction, it is possible to hypothesize that there is a relationship between pathological traits (i.e., Neuroticism, Impulsivity, and Psychoticism) and Facebook PU.