Development and Maintenance of Self-Disclosure on Facebook: The Role of Personality Traits

This study explored the relationships between Facebook self-disclosure and personality traits in a sample of Italian users.The aim was to analyze the predictive role of Big Five personality traits on different parameters of breadth and depth of selfdisclosedbehaviors online. Facebook users, aged between 18 and 64 years of age (Mage = 25.3 years, SD = 6.8; N = 958),of which 51% were female, voluntarily completed an online survey assessing personality traits and Facebook self-disclosure.Results at a series of hierarchical regression analyses significantly corroborated the hypotheses that high extroverted andopenness people tend to disclose on Facebook a significant amount of personal information, whereas high consciousnessand agreeableness users are less inclined to do it. Furthermore, more extroverts and agreeableness people develop lessintimacy on Facebook, differently from those with high levels of openness. Results also corroborated the hypothesis of afull mediation of time usage in the relationship between personality factors such as extroversion and conscientiousness withbreadth of Facebook self-disclosure. Overall, according to the findings of the current study, personality traits and Facebookself-disclosure become central both as predictive variables for depicting the different profiles of potential addicted and asvariables to help educators, teachers, and clinicians to develop training or therapeutic programs aimed at preventing the riskof Internet addiction. Limitations of the study are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.