Role of Social Interaction Anxiety and Sensation Seeking in Facebook Addiction among Male and Female College Students

According to current statistics, Indians are the leading users of facebook. However, the popularity has turned in to a matter of concern, with it taking the form of addiction in many. This makes research essential for the identification of psychological risk factors in this population. Accordingly, the present study investigated the role of social interaction anxiety and sensation seeking in facebook addiction, among 232 male and female college students, using Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (Andreassen, Torsheim, Brunborg, & Pallesen, 2012); Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (Andreassen, Torsheim, Brunborg, & Pallesen, 2017); Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (Mattick & Clarke, 1998); and Sensation Seeking Scale (Basu, Verma, Malhotra, & Malhotra, 1993). The results revealed that while social interaction anxiety was a significant positive predictor of facebook addiction, sensation seeking was non-significant for both males and females.