The serial mediating roles of protecting from risks and digital sharing in the relationship between self-control and the desire for being liked

Purpose This study investigates the mediating role of digital protecting from risks and digital sharing in the influence of one of the Big Five personality traits, namely, self-control, on the desire for being liked. We examine the role of the desire for being liked in relation to the other Big Five personality traits and digital factors such as digital protecting from risks and digital sharing. In addition, the mediating effects of the digital factors in the relationship between personality traits and the desire for being liked remain to be studied in depth. Methods By applying a quantitative correlational design, the current study used a sample of 454 parents of preschool-aged children who were recruited via convenience sampling. We tested the indirect effects among the variables using serial multiple mediation analysis performed with PROCESS Macro v4.2 (Model 6). Findings The results obtained show that self-control positively predicted protecting from risks (β = 0.57) and negatively predicted the desire for being liked (β = −0.17). Conclusion Self-control significantly predicted the desire for being liked indirectly via protecting from risks (Ind1: β = −0.08), sharing (Ind2: β = −0.06), and the serial effect (Ind3: β = −0.06). Our findings suggest that self-control negatively predicts the desire for being liked both directly and indirectly through protecting from risks and sharing. This shows the important need to also target the motive of social approval in digital parenting interventions.