Sofalizing and its relationship with social media addiction and psychosocial factors

A new phenomenon among emerging adults

Bibliographic Data

ID12008865
AuthorsŞule Betül Tosuntaş (0000-0002-0731-6505, Faculty of Education, Educational Sciences Department, Bursa Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey, corresponding author), Engin Karadag (0000-0002-9723-3833, Faculty of Education, Educational Sciences Department, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey), Emrah Emirtekin (0000-0002-3970-4406, The Center for Open and Distance Learning, Yaşar University, İzmir, Turkey), Kağan Kırcaburun (0000-0002-8678-9078, Nottingham Trent University), Mark D Griffiths (0000-0001-8880-6524, Nottingham Trent University)
Year2020
Volume61
Issue2
Pages378-390
Publication date2020-09-11
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Social Science Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0362-3319 • E-ISSN: 1873-5355
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03623319.2020.1809900
OpenAlexW3084480258
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited42

Sofalizing is a term that emerged from the combination of the words ‘sofa’ and ‘socializing’, and can be defined as interacting with others online from home rather than going out and actually meeting individuals. In the present study, the relationships between psychosocial factors (including social anxiety and social connectedness) and sofalizing were examined. Additionally, the possible mediating role of social media addiction between social anxiety and connectedness with sofalizing was also investigated. The participants comprised 666 university students (69% female, Mage = 20.35 years, SD = 2.28, age range = 17 to 40 years) recruited via convenience sampling. The data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, correlation analysis, t-tests, and structural equation modeling. Results showed that social anxiety, but not social connectedness, was indirectly significantly associated with sofalizing via social media addiction. Social media addiction also had a moderate effect on sofalizing. The present study is the first to empirically explore the concept of ‘sofalizing’ and its potential contributing factors, and suggests that sofalizing warrants further examination of its impact on mental health and wellbeing

Addiction · Developmental psychology · Phenomenon · Physics · Psychiatry · Psychosocial · Social media · Social phenomenon · Social science · Sociology · World Wide Web · Child Development and Digital Technology · Computer Science · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Psychology

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