title: Lonely people are no longer lonely on social networking sites: the mediating role of self-disclosure and social support.
abstract: Most previous studies assert the negative effect of loneliness on social life and an individual's well-being when individuals use the Internet. To expand this previous research tradition, the current study proposes a model to test whether loneliness has a direct or indirect effect on well-being when mediated by self-disclosure and social support. The results show that loneliness has a direct negative impact on well-being but a positive effect on self-disclosure. While self-disclosure positively influences social support, self-disclosure has no impact on well-being, and social support positively influences well-being. The results also show a full mediation effect of social support in the self-disclosure to well-being link. The results imply that even if lonely people's well-being is poor, their well-being can be enhanced through the use of SNSs, including self-presentation and social support from their friends.
authors.affiliation: School of Management, Kyungpook National University , Buk-Gu, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Tag
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Mi-Jin
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: Dong-Mo
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Koo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012650:Self Disclosure; D060756:Social Networking; D012944:Social Support