Social media addiction in medical faculty students; the relationship with dissociation, social anxiety, and alexithymia

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate social media addiction in medical faculty students and the relationships with dissociation and social anxiety experienced in social media use and the level of alexithymia. Materials and methods: 329 students who agreed to participate in the research completed the following scales; Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Van Online Dissociative Experiences Scale (VODES), Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users (SAS-SMU). The 4 sub-scales of the SAS-SMU, the 3 sub-scales of the TAS, and the VODES were analyzed as independent variables and the BSMAS was evaluated as a dependent variable. Results: Social media addiction was affected by the shared content anxiety and self-assessment anxiety subscale points of the SAS-SMU, and by the VODES points. Shared content anxiety was determined to predict social media addiction positively and significantly (β=0.264, t (320)=3.16, p=0.002). Self-assessment anxiety was determined to predict social media addiction positively and significantly (β=0.169, t (320)=2.23, p=0.026). Online dissociative experiences was determined to predict social media addiction positively and significantly (β=0.217, t (320)=4.15, p<0.001). Conclusion: It has been shown that the risk of social media addiction is predicted in young people who are prone to dissociation, have difficulties in social relations, and have social anxiety, but alexithymia does not predict social media addiction. There is a need for further experimental and longitudinal studies to establish the potential causative link between social anxiety, dissociation, and social media addiction.