Social Appearance Anxiety, Automatic Thoughts, Psychological Well-Being and Social Media Addiction in University Students

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the relationships between social appearance anxiety, automatic thoughts, psychological well-being and social media addiction and the predictive power of these variables on social media addiction. The sample of the study consists of 440 associate degrees, undergraduate and postgraduate students studying in various universities in Turkey. Demographic Information Form, Social Media Addiction Scale, Automatic Thoughts Scale and Psychological Well-being Scale were used as data collection tools in the study. Independent group t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and hierarchical regression analysis methods were used for the analysis of the obtained data. As a result of the analysis, it was found that there was a positive correlation between social appearance anxiety, automatic thoughts and social media addiction and a negative correlation between social media addiction and psychological well-being. According to the analysis, it was concluded that automatic thoughts and social appearance anxiety significantly predicted social media addiction, while psychological well-being did not significantly contribute to the model. Findings were discussed in light of the relevant literature.