Depressive inclinations mediate the association between personality (neuroticism/conscientiousness) and TikTok Use Disorder tendencies

Abstract

Abstract Background We introduce a novel measure for assessing TikTok overuse, called the TikTok Use Disorder-Questionnaire (TTUD-Q). As part of ongoing investigations into the suitability of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) framework for diagnosing Gaming Disorder in the context of social media overuse, we developed this questionnaire by adapting the WHO framework, replacing the term “gaming” with “TikTok use”. Methods In order to address this question, we investigated the psychometric properties of the newly designed TTUD-Q and assessed its associations with the BFI-10 (assessing the Big Five of Personality) and the PHQ-8 (assessing depressive tendencies). Results In this study, involving a final sample of 378 participants, we observed that higher levels of neuroticism were linked to greater tendencies toward TikTok Use Disorder (TTUD). Furthermore, we identified that this association was mediated by depressive tendencies. Similar trends emerged when investigating the relationship between lower levels of conscientiousness and higher TTUD tendencies, with depressive tendencies once again serving as a mediator. Discussion Our research sets the foundation for future studies that should delve deeper into examining individual differences in TTUD using the WHO framework originally designed for Gaming Disorder.