The road to addiction (might be) paved with good intentions: Motives for social media use and psychological distress among early adolescents

ABSTRACT

Relying on an extended functionalist perspective, in the present study we investigated how motives underlying social media use (i.e., conformity, social/the need for social relationships), coping (the need for mood regulation), and defensive motives (anti-mattering, i.e., the feeling of not mattering to others) are linked to early adolescents’ psychological distress. We also evaluated the potential mediating role of social media addiction in the relationship between social media use motives and psychological distress in vulnerable social media users, i.e., early adolescents. Our sample consisted of 480 middle-school Romanian students (M = 12.03, SD = .78, 52.3% females). The results suggested that social relationships, mood regulation, and anti-mattering motives were positively associated with social media addiction, and that social media addiction was positively related to psychological distress. Anti-mattering and mood regulation were positively associated with psychological distress. Furthermore, social media addiction mediated the relations between the motives for social media use and psychological distress. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings for knowledge, prevention, and interventions regarding social media addiction among early adolescents.

IMPACT SUMMARY

Prior State of Knowledge

The functionalist theoretical perspective states that social media addiction might be explained by underlying motives. Previous studies also highlight the necessity to explore the relation between these motives, social media addiction, and psychological distress among youth.

Novel Contributions

We tested an extended functionalist perspective of social media addiction and explored the potential mediating role of social media addiction on the relationship between social media use motives (conformity, social relationships, mood regulation, anti-mattering) and adolescents’ psychological distress.

Practical Implications

Our results are helpful for interventions concerning social media addiction among adolescents. Knowing the motives that are related to social media addiction might help in the design of effective, targeted, parental and educational interventions to prevent adolescents’ social media addiction and psychological distress.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• motives for social media use
• addiction
• adolescents
• distress

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-2963, within PNCDI III.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered potential competing interests.

Authors’ contribution

Both authors equally contributed to the present paper.

Ethics statement

This study’s protocol was designed in concordance with ethical requirements specific to the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, `Alexandru Ioan Cuza` University (Iasi, Romania), before beginning the study and being supervised by Loredana Diaconu-Gherasim. All participants voluntarily participated in the study and gave written, informed consent following the Declaration of Helsinki and the national laws of Romania regarding ethical conduct in scientific research, technological development, and innovation.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research [CNCS - UEFISCDI, PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-2963].

Notes on contributors

Alexandra Maftei

Alexandra Maftei, PhD is an assistant professor at the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences. Her area of interests includes social, educational, and clinical psychology.

Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim

Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim, PhD, is a Professor at the Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania. Her research focuses on mental health and the impact of individual and contextual factors on the emotional development of youth.