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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Media Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1502968
This article is part of the Research Topic Children's Health and Screen Time View all articles

SCREENS AND SCARS: SEM ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, EMOTION REGULATION, AND SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION

Provisionally accepted
Nurten E Nurten E 1ASHIFA KM ASHIFA KM 1*Oğuzhan Kılınçel Oğuzhan Kılınçel 1Şenay Kılınçel Şenay Kılınçel 2Maharishi Ranganathan Maharishi Ranganathan 3Aslıhan Kübra S Aslıhan Kübra S 1Ayşe Mücella S Ayşe Mücella S 1
  • 1 Gelisim University, Istanbul, Türkiye
  • 2 Sakarya Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Institute, Turkiye, Istanbul, Türkiye
  • 3 Christ University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

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

    Background: Addiction is an increasingly significant global public health concern, affecting individuals across diverse age groups and demographics. With the rapid rise of digital technology, social media addiction has emerged as a growing behavioral issue, impacting mental health, interpersonal relationships, and daily functioning.Methods: This study employed an online cross-sectional self-report questionnaire, with university students aged 16-35 years as the target population. Data were collected using Google Forms questionnaires, accessible via the university registration system, and sent to the participating students' smart phones. The data collection instruments included the Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS), the Childhood Trauma Scale (CTS), and the Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS).Results: Data from 318 university students were analyzed. The analysis of sociodemographic data revealed a mean participant age of 21.2 years, with 87.3% being female. An analysis of the relationship between social media addiction and childhood trauma revealed that participants with childhood trauma had higher social media addiction. The linear regression model, including childhood traumas and emotion regulation difficulties for social media addiction scores, was statistically significant. A positive correlation was observed between social media addiction and difficulty in emotion regulation.Conclusions: These findings suggest that individuals who struggle with emotion regulation tend to use social media more frequently. Furthermore, the negative effects of childhood trauma on emotion regulation capabilities during adulthood contribute to the development of social media addiction.

    Keywords: Addiction, Social Media, childhood trauma, SEM analysis, emotion regulation. Addiction, Emotion Regulation

    Received: 27 Sep 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 E, KM, Kılınçel, Kılınçel, Ranganathan, Kübra S and Mücella S. 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: ASHIFA KM, Gelisim University, Istanbul, Türkiye

    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.