Heterogeneity of Prevalence of Social Media Addiction Across Multiple Classification Schemes: Latent Profile Analysis

Background As social media is a major channel of interpersonal communication in the digital age, social media addiction has emerged as a novel mental health issue that has raised considerable concerns among researchers, health professionals, policy makers, mass media, and the general public. Objective The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence of social media addiction derived from 4 major classification schemes (strict monothetic, strict polythetic, monothetic, and polythetic), with latent profiles embedded in the empirical data adopted as the benchmark for comparison. The extent of matching between the classification of each scheme and the actual data pattern was evaluated using sensitivity and specificity analyses. The associations between social media addiction and 2 comorbid mental health conditions—depression and anxiety—were investigated. Methods A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted, and the replicability of findings was assessed in 2 independent samples comprising 573 adults from the United Kingdom (261/573, 45.6% men; mean age 43.62 years, SD 12.24 years) and 474 adults from the United States (224/474, 47.4% men; mean age 44.67 years, SD 12.99 years). The demographic characteristics of both samples were similar to those of their respective populations. Results The prevalence estimates of social media addiction varied across the classification schemes, ranging from 1% to 15% for the UK sample and 0% to 11% for the US sample. The latent profile analysis identified 3 latent groups for both samples: low-risk, at-risk, and high-risk. The sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive values were high (83%-100%) for all classification schemes, except for the relatively lower sensitivity (73%-74%) for the polythetic scheme. However, the polythetic scheme had high positive predictive values (88%-94%), whereas such values were low (2%-43%) for the other 3 classification schemes. The group membership yielded by the polythetic scheme was largely consistent (95%-96%) with that of the benchmark. Conclusions Among the classification schemes, the polythetic scheme is more well-balanced across all 4 indices.

Development of Social Media Addiction Scale for COVID-19 Pandemic (SMACOP)

The current COVID-19 pandemic and ‘new normal’ has resulted in much distress worldwide. Social media currently plays an essential role in information gathering. Thus, time spent on social media has increased drastically, further increasing the risk for internet-related addictions, such as social media addiction. This study aimed to develop a COVID-19-related measure of social media addiction based on the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) in order to aid in the identification and evaluation of at-risk individuals. Social Media Addiction Scale for COVID-19 Pandemic (SMACOP) was adapted from BSMAS to fit the context of COVID-19 and pilot tested on 20 individuals. A total of 80 participants were subsequently recruited through convenience sampling from the general public of a public university in Malaysia, comprising of patients’ family, visitors, or hospital staff. Construct validity was assessed using the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD7) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9). A two-factor structure was found for SMACOP, comprising of the factors ‘Desire’ and ‘Distress’. SMACOP shows good internal consistency (α = 0.64) and validity. SMACOP scores were positively correlated with the PHQ9, GAD7, and ISI (p<.01). SMACOP is a psychometrically valid instrument with high internal consistency, which is especially useful during this time in assessing social media addiction in relevance to COVID-19.

The mediating effect of social media addiction on the relationship between leisure boredom and loneliness

This study aimed to examine the mediating effect of social media addiction on the relationship between leisure boredom and loneliness. A total of 330 high school students in Istanbul, 212 male (64.2%) and 118 female (35.8%), participated in the study voluntarily. In the study, the "Leisure Boredom Scale" developed by Iso-Ahola and Weissinger (1990) to measure participants' perceptions of boredom in their leisure, the "UCLA Loneliness Scale" developed by Peplau and Cutrona (1980) to measure loneliness level, and the "Social Media Addiction scale for Adolescents" developed by Eijnden, Lemmens and Valkenburg (2016) to measure the social media addiction level, were used as data collection tools. The convenience sampling method, which is one of the random sampling methods, was used in the sample selection and the face-to-face survey technique was preferred. In the analysis of the obtained data, descriptive statistics via the SPSS package program, Pearson Correlation, and regression analysis of the indirect impact approach based on the Bootstrap method via PROCESS v3.5 macro were performed. As a result, it was observed that leisure boredom had statistically significant effects on social media addiction and loneliness, and social media addiction on loneliness. Besides, regarding the main aim of the research, it was determined that social media addiction had a mediating effect on the relationship between leisure boredom and loneliness. ​Extended English summary is in the end of Full Text PDF (TURKISH) file. Özet Bu çalışmanın amacı serbest zamanda sıkılma algısı ile yalnızlık arasındaki ilişkide sosyal medya bağımlılığının aracı etkisinin incelenmesidir. Araştırma grubunu İstanbul’da lise düzeyinde öğrenim gören gönüllü olarak katılım sağlayan 212 erkek (%64,2), ve 118 kadın (%35,8) olmak üzere toplam 330 kişi oluşturmaktadır. Çalışmada katılımcıların serbest zamanlarında sıkılma algılarını ölçmek amacıyla Iso-Ahola ve Weissinger (1990) tarafından geliştirilen Boş Zaman Can Sıkıntısı Ölçeği, yalnızlık düzeyini ölçmek amacıyla Peplau and Cutrona (1980) tarafından geliştirilen UCLA Yalnızlık Ölçeği ve sosyal medya bağımlılık düzeylerini ölçmek amacıyla Eijnden, Lemmens ve Valkenburg (2016) tarafından geliştirilen Ergenler İçin Sosyal Medya Bağımlılığı Ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Örneklem seçiminde tesadüfi örneklem yöntemlerinden olan kolayda örnekleme yöntemi kullanılmış ve yüz yüze anket tekniği tercih edilmiştir. Elde edilen verilerin analizinde SPSS paket programı aracılığıyla tanımlayıcı istatistikler, Pearson Correlation ve PROCESS v3.5 makro aracılığıyla Bootstrap yöntemini temel alan dolaylı etki yaklaşımına ilişkin regresyon analizi kullanılmıştır. Araştırma bulgularına göre, serbest zamanda sıkılma algısının sosyal medya bağımlılığı üzerinde, serbest zamanda sıkılma algısının yalnızlık üzerinde, sosyal medya bağımlılığının yalnızlık üzerinde istatistiksel açıdan anlamlı etkilerinin olduğu görülmüştür. Ayrıca, araştırmanın temel amacına ilişkin olarak serbest zamanda sıkılma algısı ile yalnızlık arasındaki ilişkide sosyal medya bağımlılığının aracılık etkisi olduğu tespit edilmiştir.

Investigation of the Relationship between Free Time Management, Social Media Addiction and Life Satisfaction of University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic Process

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between university students free time management, social media addiction and life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic.The sample group of the study consists of 114 female and 291 male university students. Free Time Management Scale, Social Media Addiction Scale and Life Satisfaction Scale were used as data collection instruments in the research. SPSS 25 package program was used in the analysis of the data; In their statistical representations, arithmetic mean, standard deviation and frequency values are presented. For analysis to the data set; T-Test for Independent Samples, Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Pearson Correlation Test were applied.When the T-Test results for Independent Samples are examined; In terms of gender variable, a significant difference was found in favor of women in the “goal setting and method” sub-dimension of the Free Time Management Scale. When the results of Multivariate Analysis of Variance MANOVA test were examined; In terms of daily social media usage times, a significant difference was found in the sub-dimensions of preoccupation, mood regulation, repetition and conflict of the Social Media Addiction Scale.As a result, it is seen that there is a relationship between university student participants’ free time management and social media addiction. However, no relationship was found between life satisfaction and social media addiction. While a low negative correlation was found between the total score of life satisfaction and the free time management programming sub-dimension, no correlation was found between the sub-dimensions of goal determination and method, assessment and free time attitude.