Current Directions on Internet Use:Antecedents,Outcome Variables,and Influencing Mechanism

The antecedents and outcome variables of Internet use have attracted growing attention from researchers with the rapid development of Internet.Social anxiety,personality variables,self-esteem,and social support were found to have influence on individuals' Internet use.Internet use was shown to impact on individuals' depression,loneliness,life satisfaction,cognition style,and their interpersonal relationship.An inspection on literature reveals that the no consistent conclusions have been made regarding the influence of Internet use on individuals' psychological variables,indicating that the relationship between Internet use and outcome variables might be mediated or moderated by some variables such as online self-disclosure,Internet use purpose,age,gender,Internet communication type,et al.Therefore,researchers should explore these possible mechanisms in future studies to have a better understanding in the area of Internet use.