Validation of the new scale for measuring behaviors of Facebook users: Psycho-Social Aspects of Facebook Use (PSAFU)

Facebook-related psychological phenomena attracted the great interest of researchers, but to date experiences of Facebook (FB) users were usually operationalized through few objective behavioral measures or through questionnaires which focused only on specific aspects of FB use. This study aimed to construct a comprehensive questionnaire which will capture deeper psychological processes that take place on FB. Through the EFA and CFA, we extracted five dimensions of FB behaviors: Compensatory use of FB, Self-presentation on FB, Socializing and seeking sexual partners through FB, FB addiction, and FB profile as the virtual self. Compensatory and addictive Facebook use is related to personality traits that indicate poor social adaptiveness, such as social anxiety, low conscientiousness, neuroticism, introversion, and low agreeableness, while Self-Presentation on FB further contributes to this maladaptive process. Seeking new friends and intimate partners through Facebook is related to sensation seeking and social anxiety. Realistic virtual representation of one's personality on Facebook is characteristic of individuals who are socially anxious and open to experiences. The scale Psycho-Social Aspects of Facebook Use (PSAFU) covers the wide range of psychological FB phenomena and should be used by researchers interested in a detailed examination of FB users' experiences.

"The results of this study indicate that scale Psycho-Social Aspects of Facebook Use is an internally valid measure of psychological aspects of FB use, which operationalizes users' experiences through five intercorrelated dimensions: Compensatory use of FB, Self-presentation on FB, Socializing and seeking sexual partners through FB, FB addiction, and FB profile as the virtual self. " (Bodroža & Jovanović, 2016, p. 432) "... compensation and addiction are interrelated processes. It is assumed that individuals who compensate their feelings of inadequacy on FB and at the same time show signs of prolonged and uncontrolled use of FB are under greater risk to experience detrimental consequences for their life functioning in the offline setting. Active self-presentation and socialization on FB are tightly related to addiction-like processes and behaviors, suggesting that the intensive use of FB as a substitute for real life social interactions may further deepen the addictive behavioral patterns." (Bodroža & Jovanović, 2016, p. 432) "Our results support earlier findings which showed that among personality traits conscientiousness is one of the most important predictors of both Facebook and internet addiction." (Bodroža & Jovanović, 2016, p. 432)