Graduate Program

Clinical Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

Summer 2021

Thesis Director

Wesley D. Allan

Thesis Committee Member

Mariana M. Juras

Thesis Committee Member

Ronan S. Bernas

Abstract

The relationship between social anxiety and social media has been studied looking at social networking sites as a whole, or looking at problematic use of social networking sites. However, to the authors knowledge, no research study has been conducted comparing different social media sites. This study intended to look specifically at the relationship between social anxiety and Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat in college students. Furthermore, this study assessed fear of negative evaluation, fear of positive evaluation, fear of missing out, and social comparison as potential meditators of this relationship. It was hypothesized that there would be a relationship between social anxiety and Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, and that fear of negative evaluation, fear of positive evaluation, fear of missing out, and social comparison would mediate this relationship. Baron and Kenny tests of mediation results found that fear of missing out and fear of negative evaluation both partially mediated the relationship between social anxiety and Facebook connection. Additionally, results demonstrated that fear of missing out, fear of negative evaluation, and social comparison partially mediated the relationship between social anxiety and Snapchat use. This research provided more information on how individuals with social anxiety interact with social media sites. The information gathered from this study could be useful in treating individuals with social anxiety.

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