Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a prevalent mental health issue and has been reliably associated with problematic internet use (PIU), an escalating concern. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of two theoretically derived internet affordances—seeking social connections online and safety-seeking behaviors online—in this relationship, and to compare their relative impact. Using a sample of 537 adult volunteers and self-report measures, we tested a structural equation model to probe their contributions. Results indicate that individuals with more SAD symptoms tended to use the internet more for both internet affordances, which in turn increased the likelihood of PIU. The relative contribution of safety behaviors in the relationship between SAD and PIU was five times stronger than seeking social connections online. We discuss our results in the context of an affordance-based approach to research internet behaviors and delve into potential clinical implications.

社交焦虑症 (SAD) 是一种普遍存在的心理健康问题，并且与互联网使用问题 (PIU) 密切相关，而互联网使用问题是一个不断升级的问题。本研究的目的是评估两种理论上推导的互联网可供性（在线寻求社交联系和在线寻求安全行为）在这种关系中的影响，并比较它们的相对影响。我们使用 537 名成年志愿者的样本和自我报告措施，测试了结构方程模型来探究他们的贡献。结果表明，具有更多 SAD 症状的人倾向于更多地使用互联网来获得互联网的可供性，这反过来又增加了 PIU 的可能性。安全行为对 SAD 和 PIU 关系的相对贡献比在线寻求社交关系强五倍。我们在基于可供性的方法研究互联网行为的背景下讨论我们的结果，并深入研究潜在的临床意义。