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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1467246
This article is part of the Research Topic Addictive Disorders and Digital Medicine: Technology-based solutions for Addictive Disorders View all 4 articles

The interconnection between social media addiction, alexithymia and empathy in me dical students

Provisionally accepted
Sorin Ursoniu Sorin Ursoniu 1Ana C. Bredicean Ana C. Bredicean 2,3Costela L. Serban Costela L. Serban 1Ioana A. Rivis Ioana A. Rivis 4Adina I. Bucur Adina I. Bucur 1*Ion Papava Ion Papava 5Catalina Giurgi-Oncu Catalina Giurgi-Oncu 6
  • 1 Department of Functional Sciences, Discipline of Public health, Center for Translational Research and Systems Medicine, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania
  • 2 Department of Neuroscience, Discipline of Psychiatry, Center for Cognitive Research in Neuropsychiatric Pathology, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania
  • 3 Psychiatry Compartment, Dr. Victor Popescu Emergency Military Clinical Hospital, Timisoara Romania, Timisoara, Romania
  • 4 Department of Neuroscience, Discipline of Psychiatry, Center for Cognitive Research in Neuropsychiatric Pathology, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania
  • 5 Department of Neuroscience, Discipline of Psychiatry, Center for Cognitive Research and Neuropsychiatric Pathology, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania
  • 6 Department of Neurosciences, Discipline of Psychiatry, Center for Cognitive Research and Neuropsychiatric Pathology, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: This study explores whether high alexithymia values correlate with low levels of empathy, while also trying to identify potential connections with social media addiction. Methods: We hypothesized that alexithymia mediates the relationship between social media addiction and empathy levels in a sample of undergraduate students. The study population consisted of 649 medical students in the 4th/5th/6th University year, recruited between March and May 2021. For this assessment, we employed three psychometric instruments: the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ), the Social Media Addiction Scale-Student Form (SMAS-SF), and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). A pathway analysis investigated alexithymia as a mediator between social media addiction and the degree of empathy in medical undergraduates. Sobel's test and the Baron and Kenny approach were used for testing mediation. Results: The TEQ total mean score was 48.76±5.65, while the TAS-20 total mean score was 47.71±11.49. Further analysis of the TAS-20 scale scores showed that 21.42% of students had possible alexithymia, while 14.02% had clear alexithymia. The SMAS-SF total mean score was 73.20±14.59. None of the students reported levels consistent with major social media addiction. The mediated effect of the TAS-20 is about 1.3 times larger than the direct effect of the SMAS-SF on TEQ. Discussion: We found a significant negative correlation between empathy and alexithymia in medical students. Alexithymia was a mediator between social media addiction and empathy. Therefore, we recommend further efforts to identify potential levels of alexithymia in medical students, in order to successfully develop tailored interventions aimed at increasing their emotional awareness.

    Keywords: Social media addiction, Medical students, Empathy, Smartphone addiction, Alexithimia

    Received: 19 Jul 2024; Accepted: 28 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ursoniu, Bredicean, Serban, Rivis, Bucur, Papava and Giurgi-Oncu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Adina I. Bucur, Department of Functional Sciences, Discipline of Public health, Center for Translational Research and Systems Medicine, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania

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