Social Media Posting Anxiety: Interpersonal Trust, Fear of Negative Evaluation, and Hurt Feeling Proneness as Predictors

Abstract. Although many studies have shown the association between anxiety and use of social media, the extant literature has not investigated social media posting anxiety, or fears associated with sharing online content. The current study reports the development of a brief self-report questionnaire addressing social media posting anxiety. In addition, we examine psychological predictors of social media posting anxiety. The findings demonstrate good content validity for the Social Media Posting Anxiety Questionnaire (SMPAQ; S-CVI/Avg: .89; mean CVRs: .90). Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the 6-item SMPAQ measured a single dimension, accounting for 49.90% of the explained variance. Confirmatory factor analysis showed support for this one-factor model. Internal consistency was established using inter-item correlation, corrected item-total correlation, and Cronbach’s α. Low interpersonal trust, high fear of negative evaluation, and high proneness to hurt feelings were associated with high social media posting anxiety. Notably, social media posting anxiety was a predictor of unwillingness to post in social media platforms. Our results support the SMPAQ as a promising measure that can facilitate better understanding of the role of anxiety in social media posting.