Social Media Addiction as a Predictor of Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms among Young Adults

The proliferation of the social media in the life of the young adult generation has been the source of increasing worries on the possible effect of the social media on the mental health of the population and specifically the social media addiction (SMA). In the current study, SMA is observed as an antecedent of anxiety and depressive symptoms in young adults aged 1825 years based on the quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational research design. A total of 200 participants who were recruited using the convenience and snowball sampling methods were used to collect the data using online platforms. They used standardized self-report assessments, such as the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) to determine addictive use of social media and validated instruments, such as the DASS-21/PHQ-9 and GAD-7, to assess the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis were some of the statistical analyses that were done using SPSS. The results showed that there were positive correlations of a significant association between SMA and both depression (r = 0.38, p < 0.001) and anxiety (r = 0.41, p < 0.001), meaning that the higher the levels of social media addiction were, the more the psychological distress was. The regression findings also indicated that SMA is a strong predictor of anxiety and depressive symptoms even when the demographic factors like age and gender were taken into consideration. These results are in line with theoretical accounts that associate compulsive usage of social media with emotional regulation disruptions via fear of missing out, social comparison, disrupted sleep, and dopamine-driven reward schemes. The research provides the significance of early detection and specific interventions to mitigate problematic social media use and encourage healthier online interactions to safeguard the psychological well-being of young adults.