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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Addictive Behaviors
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1429101

The associations between optimism, personal growth initiative and the latent classes of social media addiction

Provisionally accepted
Heng YUE Heng YUE 1Shiwen GAO Shiwen GAO 2Yufeng Huang Yufeng Huang 1*
  • 1 Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China
  • 2 Kean University-Wenzhou, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

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

    Most previous studies have explored the risk antecedents of social media addiction, while few studies have focused on the protective factors that may decrease the risk of this behavioral disorder. By using a person-centered method, the current study focused on the effects of two protective factors (optimism and personal growth initiative) on the latent classes of social media addiction. 552 college students (248 females) participated in the current study, Mplus 8.3 software was adopted to conduct the latent class analysis.The results revealed that based on the scores of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, social media users were classified into three subgroups: low-risk class, moderaterisk class, and high-risk class. The prevalence rate of social media addiction in college students was about 9.6%. Female gender was a positive predictor of the membership of a higher-risk class. Individuals with greater optimism and personal growth initiative were less likely to be classified in a higher-risk class.

    Keywords: optimism, Personal growth initiative, Social media addiction, latent class analysis, protective effect

    Received: 07 May 2024; Accepted: 30 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 YUE, GAO and Huang. 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: Yufeng Huang, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.