BACKGROUND: Social media addiction (SMA) is an increasing problem, especially among young adults. Little is known about university students\' SMA and family functioning. This study aimed to explore the mediating effect of depressive symptoms and the moderating effect of peer support in the relationship between family functioning and SMA among young adults.
METHODS: A sample of 1862 Chinese university students completed an online survey including the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), Family APGAR, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), peer support, and demographic characteristics. Hierarchical regression and moderated mediation analysis were used to test the effects and pathways among them.
RESULTS: Of the 1840 participants, 30.11% experienced SMA, 38.80% had family dysfunction and 15.98% had depressive symptoms. Hierarchical multiple regression showed better family functioning significantly predicted less SMA (β = -0.26, p < 0.001) and lower depressive symptoms (β = -0.58, p < 0.001), after adjusting for covariates. Mediation analysis verified that depressive symptoms mediated the effect of family functioning on SMA (indirect effect = -0.22, 95%CI[-0.28, -0.17]). Furthermore, the interaction of family functioning and peer support was negatively related to depressive symptoms (β= -0.03, 95% CI[-0.05, -0.01]) and the interaction of depressive symptoms and peer support was positively related to SMA (β = 0.01, 95%CI[0.004, 0.02]). Additional analysis further confirmed that peer support decreased depressive symptoms among young adults from dysfunctional families, and increased SMA behaviors in individuals with depressive symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS: Better family functioning and lower depressive symptoms may contribute to less social media addiction among Chinese university students. Peer support could moderate the mediating role of depressive symptoms on social media addiction in individuals with family dysfunction.

BACKGROUND: The surge in digital media consumption, coupled with the ensuing consequences of digital addiction, has witnessed a rapid increase, particularly after the initiation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite some studies exploring specific technological addictions, such as internet or social media addiction, in Bangladesh, there is a noticeable gap in research focusing on digital addiction in a broader context. Thus, this study aims to investigate digital addiction among students taking the university entrance test, examining its prevalence, contributing factors, and geographical distribution using GIS techniques.
METHODS: Data from a cross-sectional survey were collected from a total of 2,157 students who were taking the university entrance test at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. A convenience sampling method was applied for data collection using a structured questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 25 Version and AMOS 23 Version, whereas ArcGIS 10.8 Version was used for the geographical distribution of digital addiction.
RESULTS: The prevalence of digital addiction was 33.1% (mean score: 16.05 ± 5.58). Those students who are attempting the test for a second time were more likely to be addicted (42.7% vs. 39.1%), but the difference was not statistically significant. Besides, the potential factors predicted for digital addiction were student status, satisfaction with previous mock tests, average monthly expenditure during the admission test preparation, and depression. No significant difference was found between digital addiction and districts. However, digital addiction was higher in the districts of Manikganj, Rajbari, Shariatpur, and Chittagong Hill Tract areas, including Rangamati, and Bandarban.
CONCLUSIONS: The study emphasizes the pressing need for collaborative efforts involving educational policymakers, institutions, and parents to address the growing digital addiction among university-bound students. The recommendations focus on promoting alternative activities, enhancing digital literacy, and imposing restrictions on digital device use, which are crucial steps toward fostering a healthier digital environment and balanced relationship with technology for students.

BACKGROUND: Social anxiety has been shown to affect college students\' academic performance. However, the role of social media addiction and academic engagement in this association is unclear.
METHODS: A total 2661 college students completed a self-report questionnaire including Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Utrecht Student Work Engagement Scale for Students, and the grade point average. Hayes\' PROCESS macro for SPSS was employed to test the serial mediation effect.
RESULTS: Results indicated that social anxiety was negatively related to academic performance, only academic engagement played a single mediating role in the relationship between social anxiety and academic performance, meanwhile social media addiction and academic engagement acted as serial mediators between social anxiety on academic performance.
CONCLUSIONS: Social media addiction and academic engagement can explain the potential mechanisms of the association between social anxiety and academic performance, which have implications for devising intervention strategies to enhance the mental health and academic outcomes of college students.

BACKGROUND: Social media addiction (SMA) caused by excessive dependence on social media is becoming a global problem. At present, most of the SMA studies recruit college students as research participants, with very few studies involving workers and other age groups, especially in China.
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the current status of SMA among Chinese workers and analyze its influencing factors.
METHODS: From November 1, 2022, to January 30, 2023, we conducted an anonymous web-based questionnaire survey in mainland China, and a total of 5176 participants completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire included the Social Networking Service Addiction Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey scale, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, as well as questionnaires regarding participants\' social media use habits and demographic information.
RESULTS: Through strict screening, 3468 valid questionnaires were included in this study. The main findings of this study revealed the following: the average SMA score of workers was higher (mean 53.19, SD 12.04), and some of them (393/3468, 11.33%) relied heavily on social media; there were statistically significant differences in SMA scores among workers in different industries (F14,3453=3.98; P<.001); single workers (t3106=8.6; P<.001) and workers in a relationship (t2749=5.67; P<.001) had higher SMA scores than married workers, but some married workers (214/3468, 6.17%) were highly dependent on social media; the level of SMA among female workers was higher than that of male workers (t3466=3.65; P<.001), and the SMA score of workers negatively correlated with age (r=-0.22; P<.001) and positively correlated with education level (r=0.12; P<.001); the frequency of using social media for entertainment during work (r=0.33; P<.001) and the frequency of staying up late using social media (r=0.14; P<.001) were positively correlated with the level of SMA in workers; and the level of SMA in workers was significantly positively correlated with their level of burnout (r=0.35; P<.001), whereas it was significantly negatively correlated with their level of mindfulness (r=-0.55; P<.001).
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that SMA among Chinese workers is relatively serious and that the SMA problem among workers requires more attention from society and academia. In particular, female workers, young workers, unmarried workers, highly educated workers, workers with bad social media habits, workers with high levels of job burnout, and workers with low levels of mindfulness were highly dependent on social media. In addition, occupation is an important influencing factor in SMA. Thus, the government should strengthen the supervision of social media companies. Medical institutions should provide health education on SMA and offer intervention programs for those addicted to social media. Workers should cultivate healthy habits while using social media.

Previous studies have examined the relationships between some antecedents and social media addiction. However, an important factor - social exclusion - has not received enough attention in the literature, the underlying psychological mechanisms that link social exclusion to social media addiction are still unclear. The current study investigated the relation between social exclusion and social media addiction as well as the mediating effects of anger and impulsivity on this relationship. An online survey was conducted, the sample included 573 university students (323 females). The results suggested that: (1) social exclusion was positively correlated with social media addiction; (2) anger and impulsivity separately mediated the relation between social exclusion and social media addiction; and (3) anger and impulsivity sequentially mediated the association between social exclusion and social media addiction. The results of the present study were conducive to understanding the associations and the psychological mechanisms between the study variables.

For decades, video game-related behaviors have been investigated in different psychologic research, much of whose attention has been paid to video game addiction (VGA), while the differences between VGA and social media addiction (SMA) should have deserved more attention. In addition to detecting common risk factors of VGA, one core question is whether social inclination (individualism or collectivism) matters.
The objectives of this study were to clarify the prevalence of VGA and SMA,, identify the influencing factors of VGA, and clarify the relationships between VGA and adolescents\' individualism-collectivism inclination.
The survey was conducted among 110 adolescent psychiatric patients. For each interviewee, psychological scales were filled face to face. Path analysis was used to examine the causation structure of the childhood trauma-related symptoms.
The prevalence of VGA was 40.9% (45 out of 110), and it was 41.8% for SMA (46 out of 110); childhood trauma, social media addiction, the individualistic inclination, and the rate of homosexuality were observed to be independent indicators for video game addiction (r2  = 0.46).
Psychological counseling on patients\' internet-related behaviors may focus on the individualistic personality and possible childhood trauma, which are two important risk factors of video game addiction. It is recommended to distinguish between video game addiction and social addiction in clinical practice.

UNASSIGNED: The increased research examining social media addiction with its negative consequences has raised concerns over the past decade. However, little research has investigated the association between social media addiction and executive functioning as well as the mechanisms underlying this relationship.
UNASSIGNED: Using a survey, the present study examined the association between social media addiction and executive functioning via emotional disturbance and sleep quality among 1051 Chinese young adults, aged 18 to 27 years old (M=21.02 years [SD=1.89]; 34.41% male).
UNASSIGNED: The results showed that social media addiction had a significant negative association with executive functioning but positive associations with emotional disturbance and poor sleep quality. Structural equation modeling suggested that there was a significant direct effect between social media addiction and executive functioning. Indirect effects via two paths (ie, emotional disturbance alone, and both emotional disturbance and sleep quality) were also statistically significant.
UNASSIGNED: The findings indicate that both emotional disturbance and poor sleep quality are risk-enhancing mediators in the relationship between social media addiction and executive functioning. Intervention programs (eg, emotional regulation strategies) should be considered to reduce the adverse effects of social media addiction on cognitive impairment among young adults.

More and more users are overusing social media and the situation is getting worse, yet there is still a lack of research on social media addiction. Based on attachment theory and the Cognition-Affect-Conation (CAC) framework, this study combines the perception of intrinsic motivation and the technical features of social media as extrinsic motivators and explores the formative factors in social media addiction. The results show that social media addiction is determined by an individual\'s emotional and functional attachment to the platform, and that attachment is in turn influenced by intrinsic motivation (perceived enjoyment and perceived relatedness) and extrinsic motivation (functional support and information quality). The SEM-PLS technique was used to analyze the data collected from a questionnaire survey of 562 WeChat users. The results showed that social media addiction is determined by an individual\'s emotional and functional attachment to the platform. This attachment is, in turn, influenced by intrinsic motivation (perceived enjoyment and perceived relatedness) and extrinsic motivation (functional support and informational quality). The study first explains the latent antecedents of social media addiction. Second, it examines user attachment, particularly the role of emotional and functional attachment, and explores the platform technology system, which plays a key role in the development of addiction. Third, it extends attachment theory to the study of social media addiction.

It has been documented that social media addiction (SMA) has a detrimental effect on college students\' academic engagement. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are not well understood. This study aimed to determine the serial mediation effects of sleep quality and fatigue on the relationship between SMA and academic engagement among college students.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 2661 college students (43.3% males, mean age = 19.97 years). The participants completed the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Utrecht Student Work Engagement Scale for Students, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Fatigue Assessment Scale. The serial mediation effects were examined using Model 6 in the Hayes\' PROCESS macro for SPSS.
The results showed that SMA among college students had a direct negative relationship with their academic engagement (Effect = - 0.051, 95% CI: -0.087 to - 0.015). In addition, sleep quality and fatigue mediated the relationship between SMA and academic engagement both independent and serially, with the independent mediation effect of sleep quality being - 0.031 (95% CI: -0.048 to - 0.016), the independent mediation effect of fatigue being - 0.109 (95% CI: -0.133 to - 0.088), and the serial mediation effect of sleep quality and fatigue being - 0.080 (95% CI: -0.095 to - 0.066). The total indirect effect of the three mediation paths was 80.9%.
Decreased academic engagement caused by SMA can be aggravated by poor sleep quality and fatigue. Strengthening supervision and intervention in social media use among college students, supplemented by attention to psychosomatic health, including sleep quality and fatigue could promote their engagement in academic work.

UNASSIGNED: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated social media addiction (SMA), making it urgent to find effective interventions for social media addiction. Evidence has shown that mindfulness might be an effective intervention for social media addiction. However, psychological mechanisms by which mindfulness reduce social media use remain unclear. Here, we further addressed this issue to examine whether attentional control and fear of missing out (FOMO) mediate the relationship between mindfulness and SMA.
UNASSIGNED: We recruited 446 college students from two universities in China and analyzed the data.
UNASSIGNED: The results suggest that there are mediation effects of attentional control and FOMO between mindfulness and SMA through 3 paths: path 1, mindfulness → attention control → SMA (-0.04); path 2, mindfulness → FOMO → SMA (-0.22); and path 3, mindfulness → attention control → FOMO → SMA (-0.05).
UNASSIGNED: Therefore, mindfulness-based interventions may be an effective way to alleviate social media addiction, especially mindfulness-based interventions targeting FOMO. At the end of the article, we also discussed the limitations of this study.