The Effects of Self Esteem of College Students on Depression: The Mediating Effect of SNS Addiction Tendency and The Moderated Mediating Effect of Excessive Reassurance Seeking

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of SNS addiction tendency and the moderated mediation effect of excessive reassurance-seeking in the relationship between self-esteem and depression among university students. A total of 395 students enrolled in universities located in Gyeongsangnam-do were surveyed to assess their levels of self-esteem, depression, SNS addiction tendency, and excessive reassurance-seeking. The key findings of this study are as follows. First, SNS addiction tendency partially mediated the relationship between self-esteem and depression. Second, excessive reassurance-seeking did not show a moderating effect on the relationship between SNS addiction tendency and depression. Third, while SNS addiction tendency mediated the relationship between self-esteem and depression, excessive reassurance-seeking had a moderated mediation effect in the pathway between SNS addiction tendency and depression. This suggests that low self-esteem in university students leads to SNS addiction tendency, which in turn triggers negative emotions such as depression, with excessive reassurance-seeking exacerbating this effect. Notably, although excessive reassurance-seeking did not moderate the relationship between SNS addiction tendency and depression, it moderated the pathway from self-esteem to depression via SNS addiction tendency, indicating the need for therapeutic interventions targeting impaired self-esteem. Lastly, the implications and limitations of this study are discussed, along with suggestions for future research directions.