Agentic behaviours are often characterised as actions that revolve around being assertive and achievement-oriented, whereas communal behaviours are centered on cooperation, empathy, and promoting social harmony. While extensive studies have demonstrated how these behaviours can be reproduced in online environments from offline, there is a lack of a suitable scale to measure them. The current study focuses on developing and validating an online agentic and communal behavioural survey scale. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, two correlated factors emerged and corresponded with the definitions of the agentic and communal dimensions. Through linear regression modelling, it was found that although each dimension was negatively associated with Internet users’ emotional well-being, the positive impact of online communal behaviour on emotional well-being is more pronounced at higher levels of online agentic behaviour. This reflects a theoretical perspective that both dimensions are complementary and should be ‘balanced’ to achieve optimal well-being. In a three-way interaction, it was found that gender moderates the above positive interaction effect in both gender groups. Specifically, gender differences play a part in determining the impact of high vs. low online AC behaviours on emotional well-being. This finding aligns with the theoretical framework explaining gender roles in societies.

Although physical isolation measures can stem the spread of COVID-19, they can also heighten individuals’ perceived isolation and feeling of loneliness, resulting in problematic internet use (PIU). However, studies have rarely investigated both the effects of physical and perceived isolation on PIU. Given the widespread availability and accessibility of digital communication technologies, it is difficult to conclude that the former may necessitate the latter inducing PIU. Using a two-wave longitudinal national survey in Singapore (n = 689), this study found that, at Time 1, both physical and perceived social isolation have direct and independent effects on internet users’ preference for online social interaction (POSI), driving PIU. This, in turn, leads to their experience of negative outcomes at Time 2. The results highlight the importance of considering the independent effects of physical and perceived isolation in affecting POSI leading to PIU.

This study proposes a novel coping model of privacy that extends prior privacy work in two important ways: first, the reconceptualization of privacy coping reflecting both problem- and emotion-focused strategies, and second, the incorporation of discrete emotions as a driver of privacy coping. Results from online survey data ( N = 605) show that Facebook users’ adaptation to privacy risks consists of multifaceted coping strategies that are problem-focused, emotion-focused, and communication-focused. These coping strategies have selective relationships with theoretical antecedents such as cognitive appraisals (i.e., threat appraisals and coping appraisals) and negative emotions (i.e., anger, frustration, regret, and anxiety/fear). Discrete emotions play a crucial functional role in determining users’ coping responses to privacy risks by selectively activating (or deactivating) emotionally congruent (or incongruent) coping strategies. Specifically, approach-associated emotions such as frustration and regret lead to problem-focused privacy coping strategies, whereas avoidance-associated emotions such as anxiety and fear lead to emotion-focused strategies. We also find a new type of privacy coping strategy: communication-focused coping strategies that are affected by regret and anxiety/fear.