Relationship between Need for Belongingness and Facebook Addiction: Mediating Role of Number of Friends on Facebook

Abstract

As humans, we need to connect with one another, our friends and families, our culture and country. Present age is the era of information and technology and social media. College and University students spend significant amount of time on Social Networking Sites like Facebook etc. The present study was conducted to explore role of number of friends on Facebook on the relationship between individual’s need for belongingness and Facebook addiction. A sample of 180 university students was selected as sample through the non-probability sampling technique. Findings suggested that male Facebook users had significantly higher number of friends on Facebook than female Facebook users. Findings also explored significant positive correlation among need for belongingness, number friends on Facebook, and Facebook addiction. The relationship between need for belongingness and Facebook addiction was partially mediated by number of friends on Facebook. The study findings would be helpful to mental health practitioners to effectively deal with emerging problem of Facebook addiction.