RESUMO
In view of the growing importance of social networking sites (SNS) to adolescents and the mixed and inconclusive empirical evidence on the relationships between SNS use and their well-being, the present study aimed to investigate the associations of social function use intensity (SFUI) and entertainment function use intensity (EFUI) with adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem, and examine the mediating roles that general prosocial behavior and school volunteering may play in the links. Drawing from the findings of a self-administered online survey with a valid sample of 3452 adolescents (mean age = 18.21) from 10 vocational colleges across four regions of China, our results demonstrated that there was an indirect positive effect of SFUI on adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem via two interpersonal pathways of general prosocial behavior and school volunteering. We also discovered that there was an indirect negative effect of EFUI on adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem via an intrapersonal pathway of school volunteering. Our findings provided empirical support for the differential effects of SFUI and EFUI on adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem through the interpersonal and intrapersonal pathways, and unpacked the mediating roles of general prosocial behavior and school volunteering in these mechanisms.
