臉書讓我更幸福？現實與線上互動對主觀幸福感之作用暨中介變項之探討

Facebook Makes Me Happier? The Effects of Realistic and Online Interaction on Subjective Well-Being and Their Mediating Variable

人際互動與幸福感有密切關係。隨著社群網路興起，人際互動有了新形式。本研究以臉書（Facebook）為例，探討在現實（面對面）與線上兩種脈絡下的友誼互動對幸福感之作用，以及關係品質扮演的中介效果。本研究以有使用臉書的一般民眾（含社會人士與學生）為對象，透過網路問卷，請參與者填寫現實互動、臉書互動、關係品質、及主觀幸福感等量表。共收到412份問卷，有效樣本為380。主要統計方法為結構方程式模型，結果發現：（1）朋友間的現實互動可透過關係品質預測主觀幸福感；（2）在控制現實互動的效果下，朋友間的線上（臉書）互動可透過關係品質預測主觀幸福感；（3）現實互動與臉書互動對關係品質具有相當的預測效果。這顯示若能妥善使用臉書，能加深關係品質，進而提升幸福感。

Interpersonal interaction is closely related to subjective well-being (SWB), but with the rise of social network sites (e.g., Facebook (FB)), a new form of interpersonal interaction has emerged. Taking FB as an example, this study examined the effects of realistic (face-to-face) and online (FB) interaction on SWB and tested the mediating effect of relationship quality. Previous research studies on the effect of Facebook use on SWB have revealed very inconsistent results (the so-called “Facebook paradox”). Our paper has exhaustively reviewed previous studies and proposed that FB interaction, defined as active and reciprocal interaction with friends through FB, as a type of Facebook use might be beneficial to SWB. Data were collected through an online questionnaire, and 412 participants (including students and non-students) filled in the scales of realistic interaction, online (FB) interaction, friendship quality, and SWB. Among them, 38 cases who were not FB users and/or showed response sets were excluded from further analysis. Using structural equation modeling, the data were analyzed among the valid sample (241 females, 136 males). The Sobel test and the bootstrapping method with 5000 bootstrap samples were used to test the significance of the mediating effects. The results showed that: (1) realistic interaction with friends has a significant positive effect on SWB, acting through the mediating variable friendship quality; (2) controlling for the effect of realistic interaction, online (FB) interaction with friends still has a significant positive effect on SWB, acting through the mediator friendship quality; and (3) both realistic and FB interaction have fairly equal effects on friendship quality, through a model comparison approach. We conclude that FB interaction is beneficial to SWB, beyond the effect of realistic interaction. Thus, our study provides one solution to the Facebook paradox and thus contributes to issues relating to FB interaction. Implications, limitations, and future directions are also discussed.