Grupp Katharina, Blessmann Marco, König Hans-Helmut, Hajek André
Division of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
Heliyon. 2025 Jan 2;11(1):e41674. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2025.e41674. eCollection 2025 Jan 15.
Transgender people face many unique challenges. Thus, some of them report excessive use of social media. Our aim was to identify the frequency of social media addiction and to investigate the factors associated with problematic social networking sites use exclusively amongst transgender adults in times of the Covid-19 pandemic.
We used data from the "Transgender Survey" HH-TPCHIVG ( = 104 in the analytical sample). Transgender people from self-help groups were involved in gathering information about gender-affirming surgery at a German hospital were included. Specific exclusion criteria did not exist. The validated Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale served as a tool to quantify probable social media addiction.
In sum, 20.5 % of the transgender people are probably addicted to social media. Regressions showed that problematic social networking sites use was significantly positively associated with the presence of a migration background (β = 2.41, p < 0.05), and a higher frequency of sports activities.
In conclusion, our study stressed the challenge of probable social media addiction among transgender people. Knowledge about the correlates of problematic social networking sites use may assist in addressing individuals at risk. The associations identified in this study could be explained, by, among other things, body dissatisfaction (especially with regard to sporting activities) or increased internet contacts (for people with a migration background). Efforts to reduce social media addiction (e.g., awareness-raising, promotion of offline activities, using role models) could prove effective in this group, pending longitudinal research.
跨性别者面临许多独特的挑战。因此，他们中的一些人报告过度使用社交媒体。我们的目的是确定社交媒体成瘾的频率，并调查在新冠疫情期间，仅在跨性别成年人中与社交网站使用问题相关的因素。
我们使用了“跨性别调查”HH - TPCHIVG的数据（分析样本中有104人）。来自自助小组、参与收集德国一家医院性别确认手术信息的跨性别者被纳入研究。不存在特定的排除标准。经过验证的卑尔根社交媒体成瘾量表作为量化可能的社交媒体成瘾的工具。
总体而言，20.5%的跨性别者可能对社交媒体成瘾。回归分析表明，社交网站使用问题与有移民背景（β = 2.41，p < 0.05）以及较高的体育活动频率显著正相关。
总之，我们的研究强调了跨性别者中可能存在的社交媒体成瘾问题。了解社交网站使用问题的相关因素可能有助于关注有风险的个体。本研究中确定的关联可能可以通过身体不满意（特别是在体育活动方面）或增加的网络接触（对于有移民背景的人）等因素来解释。在进行纵向研究之前，减少社交媒体成瘾的努力（例如提高意识、推广线下活动、使用榜样）在这一群体中可能被证明是有效的。
