Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Psychosomatics, Sigmund Freud Private University, Freudplatz 3, Vienna, 1020, Austria.
BMC Psychiatry. 2024 Apr 15;24(1):278. doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-05709-z.
Social media bring not only benefits but also downsides, such as addictive behavior. While an ambivalent closed insecure attachment style has been prominently linked with internet and smartphone addiction, a similar analysis for social media addiction is still pending. This study aims to explore social media addiction, focusing on variations in attachment style, mental distress, and personality between students with and without problematic social media use. Additionally, it investigates whether a specific attachment style is connected to social media addiction.
Data were collected from 571 college students (mean age = 23.61, SD = 5.00, 65.5% female; response rate = 20.06%) via an online survey administered to all enrolled students of Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversity Vienna. The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) differentiated between students addicted and not addicted to social media. Attachment style was gauged using the Bielefeld Partnership Expectations Questionnaire (BFPE), mental distress by the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18), and personality by the Big Five Inventory (BFI-10).
Of the total sample, 22.7% of students were identified as addicted to social media. For personality, it was demonstrated that socially media addicted (SMA) students reported significantly higher values on the neuroticism dimension compared to not socially media addicted (NSMA) students. SMA also scored higher across all mental health dimensions-depressiveness, anxiety, and somatization. SMA more frequently exhibited an insecure attachment style than NSMA, specifically, an ambivalent closed attachment style. A two-step cluster analysis validated the initial findings, uncovering three clusters: (1) secure attachment, primarily linked with fewer occurrences of social media addiction and a lower incidence of mental health problems; (2) ambivalent closed attachment, generally associated with a higher rate of social media addiction and increased levels of mental health problems; and (3) ambivalent clingy attachment, manifesting a medium prevalence of social media addiction and a relatively equitable mental health profile.
The outcomes are aligned with previous research on internet and smartphone addiction, pointing out the relevance of an ambivalent closed attachment style in all three contexts. Therapeutic interventions for social media addiction should be developed and implemented considering these findings.
社交媒体带来的不仅是好处，还有坏处，例如成瘾行为。虽然矛盾型不安全依恋风格与互联网和智能手机成瘾显著相关，但社交媒体成瘾的类似分析仍有待研究。本研究旨在探讨社交媒体成瘾，重点关注有和没有问题性社交媒体使用的学生在依恋风格、心理困扰和人格方面的差异。此外，还研究了特定的依恋风格是否与社交媒体成瘾有关。
通过对维也纳西格蒙德·弗洛伊德私立大学所有注册学生进行在线调查，从 571 名大学生（平均年龄 23.61 岁，标准差 5.00 岁，65.5%为女性；回复率 20.06%）中收集数据。使用 Bergen 社交媒体成瘾量表（BSMAS）区分对社交媒体上瘾和不上瘾的学生。使用比勒费尔德伙伴期望问卷（BFPE）评估依恋风格，使用Brief Symptom Inventory（BSI-18）评估心理困扰，使用Big Five Inventory（BFI-10）评估人格。
在总样本中，有 22.7%的学生被确定为对社交媒体上瘾。在人格方面，研究表明，社交媒体成瘾（SMA）学生在神经质维度上的得分明显高于非社交媒体成瘾（NSMA）学生。SMA 在所有心理健康维度上的得分也更高——抑郁、焦虑和躯体化。SMA 比 NSMA 更频繁地表现出不安全的依恋风格，特别是矛盾型封闭依恋风格。两步聚类分析验证了最初的发现，揭示了三个聚类：（1）安全依恋，主要与较少发生社交媒体成瘾和较少出现心理健康问题相关；（2）矛盾型封闭依恋，通常与较高的社交媒体成瘾率和较高的心理健康问题水平相关；（3）矛盾型黏附依恋，表现出中等程度的社交媒体成瘾和相对均衡的心理健康特征。
研究结果与之前关于互联网和智能手机成瘾的研究一致，指出在所有三个方面，矛盾型封闭依恋风格都具有相关性。在开发和实施针对社交媒体成瘾的治疗干预措施时，应考虑到这些发现。
