Development of a causal model of dependence on virtual social networks based on the relationships between social anxiety, perceived social support, and feeling of loneliness with mediation of self-regulation

The present study aimed to investigate the relationships between social anxiety, perceived social support, feeling of loneliness, and self-regulation with dependence on virtual social networks in order to develop a structural model for students.514 high school students were selected as the samples from four districts of northern and southern Tehran by cluster sampling method. Students responded to the social anxiety (Puklek, 2004), perceived social support (Zimet et al, 1988), and loneliness (Russell, 1996) questionnaires as well as the researcher-made questionnaire of dependence on social networks, and self-regulation questionnaire (Brown, Miller, and Lewandowski, 1999).Research data was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicated that the model had a good fit. In direct effects, there was a significant relationship between social anxiety, perceived social support and self- regulation, but in indirect effects, only the loneliness variable had a significant relationship with mediation of self-regulation. Therefore, it can be concluded that the four predictor variables had influence on social network dependency. This issue indicates their special importance.