Acta Psychologica 238 (2023) 103980

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Acta Psychologica
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actpsy

Exploring the relationship between social exclusion and social media

addiction: The mediating roles of anger and impulsivity
Heng Yue a, Xiwen Yue b, Xuemin Zhang a, Bo Liu a, Hugejiletu Bao c, *
a
School of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
b
Beidou College, Wuhan Qingchuan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
c
College of Physical Education, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Previous studies have examined the relationships between some antecedents and social media addiction.
Social exclusion However, an important factor – social exclusion – has not received enough attention in the literature, the un­
Social media addiction derlying psychological mechanisms that link social exclusion to social media addiction are still unclear. The
Anger
current study investigated the relation between social exclusion and social media addiction as well as the
Impulsivity
mediating effects of anger and impulsivity on this relationship. An online survey was conducted, the sample
included 573 university students (323 females). The results suggested that: (1) social exclusion was positively
correlated with social media addiction; (2) anger and impulsivity separately mediated the relation between social
exclusion and social media addiction; and (3) anger and impulsivity sequentially mediated the association be­
tween social exclusion and social media addiction. The results of the present study were conducive to under­
standing the associations and the psychological mechanisms between the study variables.

1. Introduction the pooled prevalence estimate of social media addiction is 24 % (95 %

Nowadays, social media has been widely used in our daily lives.
Conceptually, it is defined as the Internet-based platform that enables
individuals to opportunistically communicate and consciously self-
present, either synchronously or asynchronously, with both broad and
narrow audiences that gain value from user-generated content and the
sense of contact with others (Carr & Hayes, 2015). Social media includes
numerous applications and online channels such as Facebook, YouTube,
WeChat, QQ, and so on. These programs and websites provide us with
more chances to interact and work with others, share useful and inter­
esting content, and find entertainment to alleviate psychological
distress. The development of mobile electronic devices (such as smart­
phones) enables people to access social media almost anytime and
anywhere. Therefore, some individuals tend to spend more time and
effort on social media. This will lead to social media addiction.
Social media addiction is characterized by being unduly worried
about social media, being motivated by a strong incentive to log on to or
use social media, and committing so much time and energy to social
media that it interferes with other social activities, studies or works,
interpersonal relationships, and/or mental health and wellbeing (Schou
Andreassen & Pallesen, 2014). Previous studies have demonstrated that
confidence interval was 21 % -28 %) (Cheng et al., 2021). Some scholars
also indicated that this addictive behavior decreases students' sleep ef­
ficiency and prosocial behaviors (Sümen & Evgin, 2021), results in low
self-esteem, which further reduces life satisfaction (Hawi & Samaha,
2017), brings about poor academic performance (Azizi et al., 2019), and
poses risks to individuals' mental health (Boer et al., 2021).
Because there is a high prevalence of social media addiction and
because this addictive behavior can cause so many detrimental conse­
quences, it is imperative for researchers to investigate the antecedents of
social media addiction and the underlying psychological mechanisms.
However, previous studies indicated that a holistic theoretical under­
standing of how this addictive behavior develops is still lacking, and
research concerning social factors that may contribute to social media
addiction is still in its early stages (Sun & Zhang, 2021). According to the
Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), social environmental influences, cogni­
tive factors and personal factors can be regarded as the determinants of
behavior (Bandura, 1985). This demonstrated that the results of previ­
ous studies may be ephemeral and even speculative, and it is necessary
to confirm the results of previous studies and reveal the underlying
mechanism by adding social-environmental factors.
Social exclusion is an important social-environmental factor in our

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: baohuge@imnu.edu.cn (H. Bao).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103980
Received 7 June 2022; Received in revised form 8 June 2023; Accepted 30 June 2023
Available online 3 July 2023
0001-6918/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
H. Yue et al.
daily lives. So far, the relationship between social exclusion and social
media addiction has not received enough attention in the literature and
the underlying psychological mechanisms that link social exclusion to
social media addiction are also unclear. Previous studies have demon­
strated that social exclusion can significantly and positively predict in­
dividuals' social media usage motivation and usage behavior (Lee et al.,
2022). And social exclusion has proven to be one of the risk factors for
internet addiction, smartphone addiction, and Facebook addiction
(Arslan & Coşkun, 2021; Lim, 2019; Yue et al., 2022). Some researchers
also confirmed that social exclusion can bring about various negative
psychological outcomes such as anger and impulsivity (Rudert et al.,
2020; Xu & Yang, 2016), these negative consequences can lead to
addictive behavior (Elhai et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2018). Moreover, ac­
cording to the SCT, environmental influences (such as social exclusion),
cognitive and personal factors (such as anger and impulsivity), can be
regarded as the determinants of behaviors (such as social media addic­
tion) (Bandura, 1985). Social exclusion is a common experience in our
daily lives, and people frequently experience various types of negative
interpersonal experiences, such as being rejected and ignored through
various interpersonal relationships (Lee et al., 2022). Therefore, teasing
out the relationship between social exclusion and social media addiction
and the underlying mechanisms will provide more information for un­
derstanding the development process of this behavioral disorder.
From what has been mentioned above, the current study aimed to
test the association between social exclusion and social media addiction
as well as examine the mediating effects of anger and impulsivity.
1.1. The relationship between social exclusion and social media addiction
Social exclusion is characterized as the sense of being disregarded by
others in one's presence (Williams & Sommer, 1997). Previous studies
indicated that social exclusion is correlated with internet addiction and
Facebook addiction (Arslan & Coşkun, 2021; Lim, 2019). Some re­
searchers have indicated that phubbing behavior, as one type of social
exclusion, increases individuals' levels of mobile phone addiction and
mobile game addiction (Hao et al., 2020; Xie et al., 2019). Likewise, one
study found that social ignore is one of the antecedents of social media
addiction (Taş, n.d.). In the researchers' perspectives, this may be
because social exclusion frustrates individuals' basic psychological
needs, such as belonging and control (Williams, 2009). On the one hand,
in order to alleviate these psychological distress, socially excluded
people are more likely to use the internet excessively. Ultimately, they
may develop addictive behaviors (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014). On the
other hand, decreased self-control strength will contribute to the
occurrence and development of behavior disorders. Therefore, it is
reasonable to hypothesize that social exclusion can significantly and
positively predict social media addiction.
1.2. The mediating effect of anger
Anger is defined as an emotional state that comprises sensations that
range in intensity from slight irritation or annoyance to great fury or
rage (Spielberger & Reheiser, 2010). Risk factors that may lead to anger
include setbacks, threats to fundamental psychological needs, and other
aversive events (Potegal & Stemmler, 2010). Compared with other
emotions, anger is more likely to originate from human action and is
related to others' responsibility (Wranik & Scherer, 2010). Because so­
cial exclusion is caused by other individuals and threatens individuals'
belonging needs, this may contribute to anger (Potegal & Stemmler,
2010). As a result, the association between the two variables could be
established. Besides, previous scholars have confirmed that there is a
positive relationship between social exclusion and anger (Rudert et al.,
2020). Experimental studies have also shown that individuals who are
socially excluded are significantly angrier than those who are not (Chow
et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2019). Therefore, it is reasonable to hypoth­
esize that social exclusion can significantly and positively predict anger.
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Acta Psychologica 238 (2023) 103980
The association between anger and addictive behaviors (such as
smartphone addiction and internet addiction) has been confirmed by
previous studies (Elhai et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2018). And scholars have
also revealed that anger has an indirect effect on internet addiction
through some psychiatric factors (Lim et al., 2015). This may be because
anger is a negative emotion that contributes to numerous mental dis­
orders (Association AP, 2013). According to the compensatory internet
use model, people often use social media to escape from real-life prob­
lems or to relieve dysphoric moods (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014). This may
result in negative consequences, such as social media addiction.
Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that anger can cause social
media addiction.
From what has been mentioned above, social exclusion may signif­
icantly and positively predict anger, which in turn is significantly and
positively associated with social media addiction. In other words, anger
may play a mediating role in the effect of social exclusion on social
media addiction.
1.3. The mediating effect of impulsivity
Impulsivity is characterized as a propensity for quick, unplanned
reactions to internal or external stimuli, regardless of the negative out­
comes of these reactions for the impulsive individual or others (Moeller
et al., 2001). The relationship between social exclusion and impulsivity
has been verified by numerous studies. Prior studies have indicated that
social exclusion is a risk factor for impulsive buying (Luo et al., 2021).
Participants who are socially excluded in the Cyberball game exhibit
more impulsive behaviors in the balloon analogue risk task (Xu & Yang,
2016), and they display greater sensitivity to monetary and social re­
wards (Xu et al., 2022). According to the need-threat model and the
strength model of self-control (Baumeister et al., 2007; Williams, 2009),
social exclusion threatens the primary need for control, depletes the self-
control resource, and ultimately increases the level of impulsivity.
Therefore, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that social exclusion can
significantly and positively predict impulsivity.
Impulsivity has been found to be a risk factor for Facebook addiction
(Cudo et al., 2020; Fowler et al., 2020). This may be because, compared
with ordinary people, impulsive individuals are more sensitive to
reward (reward hypersensitivity) (Martin & Potts, 2004), and social
media is available almost anywhere and anytime. Thus, impulsive in­
dividuals are likely to be addicted to social media. According to the
interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model,
impulsivity is one of the personality factors of individuals' core char­
acteristics that may contribute to social media addiction (Brand et al.,
2016). Based on theoretical and empirical research, it seems that
impulsivity can significantly and positively predict social media
addiction.
From what has been mentioned above, social exclusion may signif­
icantly and positively predict impulsivity, which in turn is significantly
and positively associated with social media addiction. That is to say,
impulsivity may play a mediating role in the effect of social exclusion on
social media addiction.
1.4. Multiple mediating effects of anger and impulsivity
The relationship between anger and impulsivity has been verified by
previous studies. Some scholars have demonstrated that anger, a high-
arousal negative affect, depletes self-control resources and decreases
self-control strength. Therefore, angry individuals are more likely to
exhibit impulsive behaviors such as aggression, risk-taking, and addic­
tion (Denson et al., 2011; Elhai et al., 2019; Svetieva et al., 2016).
Therefore, anger may significantly and positively predict impulsivity.
According to the SCT, “environmental influences, cognitive and per­
sonal factors, and behaviors all operate as interlocking determinants
that affect each other bidirectionally” (Bandura, 1985). The present
study concentrated on the effects of environmental and personal factors
H. Yue et al. Acta Psychologica 238 (2023) 103980

(such as social exclusion, anger, and impulsivity) on behaviors (such as
social media addiction). From the literature review, this study proposes
that anger and impulsivity may play mediating roles in the association
between social exclusion and social media addiction. Given that the
relationship between social exclusion and social media addiction has not
received enough attention in the literature, and little is known con­
cerning the psychological mechanism underlying this association, the
current study may have significant implications for the thorough un­
derstanding, early prevention, and targeted intervention of social media
addiction.
1.5. The present study
In the present study, a multiple mediation model (Fig. 1) was
established to test the association between social exclusion and social
media addiction as well as the potential mediating mechanisms. The
research hypotheses were listed as follows: (1) social exclusion would be
positively associated with social media addiction; (2) anger would
mediate the relationship between social exclusion and social media
addiction; (3) impulsivity would mediate the relationship between so­
cial exclusion and social media addiction; and (4) anger and impulsivity
would sequentially mediate the relationship between social exclusion
and social media addiction.
2. Methods
2.1. Participants
By using the convenience sampling method, an anonymous online
survey was performed to collect data from participants. The sample
included 573 university students in Henan, Guangdong, Shandong
Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. There were 250
males and 323 females. The mean age of these participants was 20.20 ±
1.61 years old, ranging from 18 to 25 years of age.
2.2.3. Impulsivity
Impulsivity was assessed using the 8-item brief version of the Barrett
impulsiveness scale (Morean et al., 2014). Participants were asked to
rate each item using a four-point Likert scale (1 = rarely/never to 4 =
almost always/always). All the items were summed up to generate an
impulsivity score, where a higher sum score reflected a higher level of
impulsivity. In the present study, the internal reliability estimate of this
scale was adequate (Cronbach's α = 0.750).
2.2.4. Social media addiction
Social media addiction was assessed by using the 6-item Bergen so­
cial media addiction scale (Andreassen et al., 2016). Participants were
asked to rate each item by using a five-point Likert scale (1 = very rarely
to 5 = very often). All the items were summed up to generate a social
media addiction score, where a higher sum score reflected a higher level
of social media addiction. In the present study, the internal reliability
estimate of this scale was adequate (Cronbach's α = 0.850).
2.3. Statistical analyses
SPSS 25.0 was employed to conduct descriptive statistics, correlation
and linear regression analyses. SPSS Process Macro (Model 4 and Model
6) (Hayes, 2017) was used to test the single and multiple mediating
effects of anger and impulsivity on the relationship between social
exclusion and social media addiction. According to the recommenda­
tions of the previous study (Hayes, 2009), the bootstrapping approach
with 5000 re-samples was employed to assess the statistical significance
of these mediating effects (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). If the 95 % con­
fidence intervals(CI) did not include zero, it meant that the indirect ef­
fect was significant.
3. Results
3.1. Descriptive statistics

2.2. Measurements
2.2.1. Social exclusion
Social exclusion was measured using the 8-item ostracism experi­
ences scale (Carter-Sowell, 2010). Participants were asked to rate each
statement using a seven-point Likert scale (1 = hardly ever to 7 = almost
always). All the items were summed up to create an ostracism experi­
ence score, where higher sum scores indicated more social exclusion
experiences. In the present study, the reliability of this scale was satis­
factory (Cronbach's α = 0.808).
2.2.2. Anger
Anger was measured using the 5-item anger reaction scale (Forbes
et al., 2014). Participants were asked to rate each statement using a five-
point Likert scale (1 = none of the time to 5 = all of the time). All the
items were summed up to create an anger score, where higher sum
scores signified worse symptomatology. In the present study, this scale
had high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.844).
The results of descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were
displayed in Table 1. Social exclusion was positively correlated with
social media addiction, anger, and impulsivity. Social media addiction
was positively associated with anger and impulsivity. Anger was posi­
tively correlated with impulsivity.
3.2. The effect of social exclusion on social media addiction
A linear regression analysis was conducted. The results indicated that
social exclusion was a significant and positive predictor of social media
addiction (b = 0.245, p < 0.01).
3.3. The mediating effect of anger
The PROCESS macro (Model 4) was used to examine the mediating
effect of anger on the relationship between social exclusion and social
media addiction. The results indicated that social exclusion positively
predicted anger (b = 0.314, p < 0.01) and social exclusion (b = 0.133, p

Table 1
Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis.
Mean SD 1 2 3 4

1. SE 17.496 5.862 1
2. SMA 14.963 4.553 0.315** 1
3. ANG 11.147 4.053 0.455** 0.393** 1
4. IMP 16.724 3.763 0.378** 0.377** 0.431** 1

SE, Social exclusion; SMA, Social media addiction; ANG, Anger; IMP, Impul­
sivity.
N = 573.
**
Fig. 1. The multiple mediation model. p < 0.01.

3
H. Yue et al. Acta Psychologica 238 (2023) 103980

< 0.01). Anger positively predicted social media addiction (b = 0.354, p
< 0.01). The direct effect of social exclusion on social media addiction
was significant (b = 0.133, 95%CI = [0.068, 0.198]), and the indirect
effect of anger was significant as well (b = 0.114, 95%CI = [0.075,
0.152]). Thus, anger partially mediated the link between social exclu­
sion and social media addiction.
multiple mediation model to examine the association between the two
study variables as well as the mediating roles of anger and impulsivity.
The main findings and implications were presented and discussed as
follows.
4.1. The relationship between social exclusion and social media addiction

3.4. The mediating effect of impulsivity
The PROCESS macro (Model 4) was used to assess the mediating
effect of impulsivity on the relationship between social exclusion and
social media addiction. The results indicated that social exclusion
positively predicted impulsivity (b = 0.243, p < 0.01). Social exclusion
(b = 0.156, p < 0.01) and impulsivity (b = 0.365, p < 0.01) positively
predicted social media addiction. The direct effect of social exclusion on
social media addiction was significant (b = 0.156, 95%CI = [0.093,
0.219]), and the indirect effect of impulsivity was significant as well (b
= 0.089, 95%CI = [0.059, 0.122]). Thus, impulsivity partially mediated
the link between social exclusion and social media addiction.
3.5. The multiple mediation model
The PROCESS macro (Model 6) was used to evaluate the mediating
effects of anger and impulsivity on the relationship between social
exclusion and social media addiction. The results were presented in
Table 2. Social exclusion positively predicted anger (b = 0.314, p < 0.01)
and impulsivity (b = 0.147, p < 0.01). Anger positively predicted
impulsivity (b = 0.303, p < 0.01). Social exclusion (b = 0.092, p < 0.01),
together with anger (b = 0.271, p < 0.01) and impulsivity (b = 0.277, p
< 0.01), positively predicted social media addiction. The direct effect of
social exclusion on social media addiction was significant (b = 0.092,
95%CI = [0.027, 0.158]); the indirect effects of anger (b = 0.085, 95%
CI = [0.051, 0.122]) and impulsivity (b = 0.041, 95%CI = [0.022,
0.065]) were significant. The multiple mediating effects of anger and
impulsivity were significant (b = 0.026, 95%CI = [0.014, 0.041]). Thus,
anger and impulsivity mediated the link between social exclusion and
social media addiction.
4. Discussion
Previous studies have verified that social exclusion is a positive
predictor of Facebook and internet addiction (Arslan & Coşkun, 2021;
Lim, 2019). Similarly, the current study confirmed that social exclusion
could significantly and positively predict the severity of social media
addiction. The reason might lie in the following two aspects. Firstly,
social exclusion threatens individuals' fundamental psychological needs
(Williams, 2009). According to the Belongingness Theory and the Self-
Determination Theory (Baumeister, 2011; Deci & Ryan, 2011), social
media use is driven by the motivation to fulfill basic psychological
needs, especially belonging needs. The greater social exclusion they
experience, the more time and energy they will spend on social media
content. Ultimately, this will lead them to become addicted to social
media. Secondly, the interpersonal model of addiction relapse posits
that the aversion experience associated with social pain originates from
the decreased opioid activity during the period of social exclusion
(Leach & Kranzler, 2013). As a result, individuals who are socially
excluded may suffer from “endogenous opioid withdrawal” that is
characterized by serious negative moods and intense cravings.
Furthermore, previous researchers contended that addictive substances
could be viewed as substitutes for social attachment (Panksepp et al.,
1978). Because social media is available almost anytime and anywhere,
socially excluded people may spend plenty of time on these applications
and websites to compensate for their lack of social bonds. In the long
run, this will bring about social media addiction.
The results of the current study generalize the findings of previous
studies. Although researchers have investigated the relationships be­
tween some antecedents (such as others' phubbing behavior and social
ignore) and social media addiction, these study variables can be regar­
ded as a sub-type of social exclusion. The findings of the current study
may be conducive to generating new research ideas and future re­
searchers can deduce that other types of social exclusion may also bring
about this addictive behavior. The results can also provide more
empirical evidence for the related studies.

Given that the relationship between social exclusion and social 4.2. The mediating role of anger
media addiction has not received enough attention in the literature and
little is known concerning the psychological mechanism underlying this The results of the current study suggested that social exclusion was
association. Based on the theories and empirical studies and by positively associated with anger, which in turn was positively correlated
employing the SPSS Process Macro, the current study constructed a with social media addiction. In other words, anger partially mediated
the relationship between social exclusion and social media addiction.
Table 2 For the first part of the mediation process, the positive relationship
Results of the multiple mediation model. between social exclusion and anger is consistent with recent findings
Effect b 95%CI (Rudert et al., 2020). Empirical and theoretical studies have found that
Lower Upper social exclusion threatens individuals' fundamental psychological needs
(Baumeister, 2011; Deci & Ryan, 2011; Williams, 2009). According to
Direct effect
SE → ANG 0.314** 0.264 0.365
the information theory of emotion (Simonov, 1970), this decreases the
SE → IMP 0.147** 0.095 0.199 available information that is required to establish social connections
ANG → IMP 0.303** 0.228 0.379 with other individuals. Therefore, social exclusion can contribute to
SE → SMA 0.092** 0.027 0.158 anger. From the perspective of the recalibrational theory (Sell, 2011),
ANG → SMA 0.271** 0.174 0.367
the negative consequences of social exclusion raise the cost of inter­
IMP → SMA 0.277** 0.177 0.377
personal interaction, resulting in a lower welfare tradeoff ratio for in­
dividuals, and thus anger is activated. Moreover, social exclusion can
Indirect effect
SE → ANG → SMA 0.085 0.050 0.121
lead to negative consequences such as hostility and aggression, in which
SE → IMP → SMA 0.041 0.022 0.064 anger is included as one of the subcategories (DeWall et al., 2009; Fer­
SE → ANG → IMP → SMA 0.026 0.014 0.041 nandez, 2013). Therefore, the positive relationship between social
Total indirect effect 0.152 0.110 0.198 exclusion and anger could be understood.
SE, Social exclusion; SMA, Social media addiction For the second path of the mediation process, anger was positively
ANG, Anger; IMP, Impulsivity. correlated with social media addiction. This was in line with previous
**
p < 0.01. research, which indicated that anger was significantly and positively

4
H. Yue et al.
associated with internet and smartphone addiction (Kardefelt-Winther,
2014; Williams, 2009). According to the uses and gratifications theory
and the compensatory internet use model, social media is frequently
used by individuals to alleviate negative moods and compensate for
psychological requirements. Therefore, anger can be regarded as one of
the antecedents of social media addiction. From the viewpoint of the I-
PACE model, the affective responses to situational triggers can be
considered as the mediators between social cognitions (such as social
exclusion experiences) and social media addiction (Brand et al., 2016).
Therefore, the mediating effect of anger on the relationship between
social exclusion and social media addiction could be comprehended.
In summary, social exclusion threatened people's psychological
needs, which would lead to anger. Subsequently, angry individuals
would choose social media to relive their negative moods as well as
fulfill their fundamental psychological requirements. These results can
contribute to understanding a possible mechanism underlying the rela­
tionship between social exclusion and social media addiction. The
findings also indicated that effective emotional regulation strategies and
skills should be improved to diminish the effect of social exclusion on
social media addiction.
4.3. The mediating role of impulsivity
The results of the current study demonstrated that social exclusion
was positively associated with impulsivity, which in turn was positively
correlated with social media addiction. In other words, impulsivity
partially mediated the relationship between social exclusion and social
media addiction.
For the first part of the mediation process, the results of the present
study supported the findings of prior research, which indicated that
social exclusion could lead to impulsive behaviors (Luo et al., 2021; Xu
& Yang, 2016). On the one hand, the need-threat model (Williams,
2009) posits that social exclusion threatens individuals' fundamental
psychological requirements. This will drive people to do things actively
to find compensation for their psychological distress. The more or the
greater the social exclusion they experience, the greater the motivation
to meet their requirements will be and the higher the level of impulsivity
they will possess. On the other hand, empirical studies suggest that so­
cial exclusion causes many negative experiences such as loneliness,
anger, and social pain, which may indirectly deplete self-control
strength and subsequently increase the level of impulsivity. Therefore,
the positive relationship between social exclusion and impulsivity could
be understood.
For the second part of the mediation process, impulsivity was posi­
tively correlated with social media addiction. This result supported the
recent studies which indicated that impulsivity was a significant ante­
cedent of Facebook addiction (Cudo et al., 2020; Fowler et al., 2020).
According to the reward-discounting model, impulsivity is characterized
as a behavioral propensity to choose small, instant rewards over larger,
postponed ones (Swann et al., 2002). Impulsive individuals exhibit
reward hypersensitivity, and they are incapable of weighing the re­
percussions of their acts (Moeller et al., 2001). Therefore, these people
are more likely to be attracted to social media platforms where the
content is updated in real time. The I-PACE model suggests that
impulsivity, which serves as one of the core personality factors, may lead
to social media addiction (Brand et al., 2016). Therefore, the positive
relationship between impulsivity and social media addiction could be
understood.
In summary, social exclusion threatened basic psychological needs
and contributed to an increasing level of impulsivity. This would
enhance reward hypersensitivity and ultimately give rise to social media
addiction. The results provide empirical evidence concerning the re­
lationships between the study variables, which will be conducive to
future studies in this area. These findings also demonstrated another
potential mechanism behind the association between social exclusion
and social media addiction, and suggested that improving social media
5
Acta Psychologica 238 (2023) 103980
users' inhibitory control capacity may be an effective way to alleviate
the effect of social exclusion on social media addiction.
4.4. Multiple mediating effects of anger and impulsivity
The results of the current study demonstrated that anger and
impulsivity sequentially mediated the link between social exclusion and
social media addiction. This suggested that when individuals were so­
cially excluded, their psychological needs would be threatened. This
improved their anger levels. Subsequently, angry individuals were more
likely to behave impulsively, which eventually led to an increased risk of
social media addiction. These findings were consistent with the con­
clusions of previous studies. According to the SCT, human behaviors are
determined by environmental and personal factors. In the present study,
social exclusion, anger, and impulsivity were identified as the environ­
mental and personal factors that resulted in the emergence and pro­
gression of the behavioral consequence – social media addiction. The
results of the present study not only verified the positive association
between social exclusion and social media addiction but also shed light
on the psychological mechanism underlying this association. Therefore,
this study may have important implications for the understanding,
prevention, and intervention of social media addiction.
5. Implications
Theoretically, the results of the present study are consistent with the
SCT, which suggests that human behaviors are determined by environ­
mental and personal factors (Bandura, 1985). These findings not only
provide direct empirical evidence for future studies by verifying the
relationship between the study variables, but also serve to understand
the potential mechanism behind the relationship between social exclu­
sion and social media addiction.
Practically, on the one hand, as previous studies have demonstrated
that people who are mean, malicious and selfish are more likely to be
socially excluded (Rudert et al., 2018). According to the results of the
current study, social media users should adjust their behavior to avoid
the experience of being socially excluded, this may contribute to a
decrease in their social media addiction levels. On the other hand, social
media users should improve their emotional regulation abilities and
inhibitory control capacity. This will be conducive to relieving anger,
reducing impulsivity, and finally alleviating the impact of social exclu­
sion on social media addiction.
6. Conclusion
The current study investigated the relationship between social
exclusion and social media addiction as well as the mediating effects of
anger and impulsivity on this relationship. Results suggested that: (1)
social exclusion was positively correlated with social media addiction;
(2) anger and impulsivity separately mediated the relationship between
social exclusion and social media addiction; and (3) anger and impul­
sivity sequentially mediated the association between social exclusion
and social media addiction. The results of the present study were
conducive to understanding the associations and psychological mecha­
nisms between these study variables. Future studies should investigate
effective ways to prevent and treat social exclusion, anger, and impul­
sivity. This would serve the purpose of reducing the risk of social media
addiction.
7. Limitations
The current study has some limitations to note. First, due to the fact
that university students had been the focus group of social media
addiction (Ya-li et al., 2021), a university student sample was used in the
present study. Future researchers are encouraged to investigate the re­
lationships between the study variables in other samples, such as
H. Yue et al.
children and teenagers. Second, because this study was conducted on a
convenience sample, the generalizability of the results needs to be
verified by studies with probability samples. Third, because the present
study relied on a cross-sectional study design, the results cannot provide
causal conclusions for the relationships found between the study vari­
ables. Accordingly, longitudinal studies are required to make better
sense of the aforementioned relationships.
Funding
This study is supported by four funds.
1. Inner Mongolia Normal University graduate students' research
innovation fund (CXJJB20004).
2. Inner Mongolia Natural Science Foundation, Exercise improves
executive function in patients with chronic pain (2021MS03099).
3. Social Science Planning Project in Inner Mongolia, Evaluation
System and Intervention Research of Adolescent Health Literacy in Inner
Mongolia under Healthy China Strategy (2021NDB130).
4. Baotou Medical College's research project of “ Wen Xue”, “Wei
Xue” and “Jian Xue”, a study on emotional adjustment strategies and
influencing factors of college students under the influence of public
emergencies (2021BYWWJ-YB-37).
Ethical approval statement and informed consent
This study had got the approval and the informed consent from the
College of Psychology Inner Mongolia Normal University.
Declaration of competing interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is
no conflict of interest.
Data availability statement
Data presented in this study are available from the corresponding
author on reasonable request and with the permission of the Research
Ethics Committee.
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