Moderating effects of gender and passive Facebook use on the relationship between social interaction anxiety and preference for online social interaction

In recent years, internet use for online social interaction has dramatically increased among the students. Even though prior studies had confirmed that social interaction anxiety (SIA) can develop one’s preference for online social interaction (POSI) over face-to-face communication, whether the association between SIA and POSI varies with one’s gender and levels of passive Facebook use (PFU) are still unknown. Therefore, to address this knowledge gap, the present study examined the moderating effects of gender and PFU on the association between SIA and POSI among the university students of Bangladesh. Participants were 544 university students (55.9% male and 44.1% female). The study assessed POSI, SIA, PFU, and demographic characteristics of the participants employing cross-sectional study design. The hierarchical regression analysis suggested…