Exploring the Association Between Social Media Addiction and Relationship Satisfaction: Psychological Distress as a Mediator

Abstract

Social media use has become part of daily life for many people. Earlier research showed that problematic social media use is associated with psychological distress and relationship satisfaction. The aim of the present study was to examine the mediating role of psychological distress in the relationship between social media addiction (SMA) and romantic relationship satisfaction (RS). Participants comprised 334 undergraduates from four mid-sized universities in Turkey who completed an offline survey. The survey included the Relationship Assessment Scale, the Social Media Disorder Scale, and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. According to the results, there were significant correlations between all variables. The results also indicated that depression, anxiety, and stress partially mediated the impact of SMA on RS. Moreover, utilizing the bootstrapping procedure the study found significant associations between SMA and RS via psychological distress. Consequently, reducing social media use may help couples deal with romantic relationship dissatisfaction, thereby mitigating their depression, anxiety, and stress.

Influencing factors, prediction and prevention of depression in college students: A literature review

“…Some researchers believe that social software, as a complementary mode of providing social support, can provide more help for people with low social support, thus reducing the occurrence of depression[ 55 ]. However, there is increasing recognition that social networks, especially the excessive use of social media, are closely related to depression[ 56 - 60 ]. Regarding the possible contributing factors, first, individuals who frequently use social software are more likely to have a fear of missing out, and they are always worried that they will miss some important information if they do not refresh the social platform dynamics frequently.…”

To scroll or not to scroll: Examining social media as a mediator for attachment security and internal stress

“…Further, spending time on social media can distract from meaningful partner interactions (Lenhart & Duggan, 2014) heighten partners' risks of engaging in demand-withdraw and criticism-defense communication patterns (Spencer et al, 2017) and increase relationship conflict (Dew & Tulane, 2015;McDaniel & Coyne, 2016;Roberts & David, 2016;Spencer et al, 2017). Furthermore, spending excessive amounts of time on social media, defined as problematic social media use (Meshi & Ellithorpe, 2021) may lead an individual to become more fixated on their social media presence than their own individual or relational wellbeing (Akram & Kumar, 2017;Satici, Kayis, & Griffiths, 2021). A notable consequence of excessive social media use is the mental health of individuals.…”

“…A notable consequence of excessive social media use is the mental health of individuals. When used excessively, excessive social media use creates stress by promoting jealousy in relationships, negatively impacting well-being rather than coping with stresss (Satici et al, 2021) as some research suggests that social media use (if not excessive) can be used as a means of support (Randall & Bodenmann, 2009b). Moreover, smartphones, the means by which many accesses social media, have been shown to decrease partners' empathy (Misra, Cheng, Genevie, & Yuan, 2014) and increase relational uncertainty (Lapierre & Lewis, 2018) as they represent distractions that draw attention away from the current interaction (Sbarra et al, 2019).…”

Basic Psychological Needs and Psychological Well-being: The Mediating Role of Instagram Addiction

“…Psychological well-being is a concept derived from positive psychology and refers to striving to develop potential talents and abilities that demonstrate an individual's understanding and capacity for overall life quality (Wu et al, 2020). Also, individuals with good well-being often experience positive emotions, are optimistic about events (even stressful ones), and use more healthy coping strategies (Heintzelman & Diener, 2019;Satici et al, 2021). In this regard, studies show that social media addiction has a negative and significant relationship with psychological well-being (De Lenne et al, 2018;Sharma & Sharma, 2018;Arabi et al, 2021).…”