Investigation of the effect of social media use on social anxiety and self-efficacy in adolescence

The use of social media, one of the most important issues of our age, covers a large area of our lives. Social media use has an important place in adolescence, when individuals realize themselves, their characters are shaped and brain development is active. Thus, the content shared on social media allows us to make detailed inferences about adolescents. This study aimed to examine adolescents' social anxiety and self-efficacy in using social media platforms. The study was conducted with 399 students studying in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades at Kardelen Educational Institutions in Nevşehir province during the 2023-2024 academic year. It was observed that 49.9% of the participants were female, 50.1% were male, 14% had one sibling, 48.1% had two sibling, 28.1% had three sibling, 7% had four sibling and 2.8% had five or more siblings, 67.4% were first children, 9.8% were middle children and 22.8% were last children. Three separate scales were used in the study: social media attitude scale, social anxiety scale for children and self-efficacy scale for children. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Sciences) 26.0 software. Independent sample t-test was applied for comparison of paired groups. One-way ANOVA was applied for comparisons made with the education level variable involving more than two groups. Regression analysis was applied by performing normality test for the appropriateness of comparison tests. When students' social media attitude, social anxiety and self-efficacy scores were compared with some demographic characteristics, significant differences were observed according to class, number of siblings, birth order, income level and success variables. No significant differences were observed according to the variables of gender, mother's education level and father's education level. As a result of the statistical analysis of the research, a positive, weak and significant relationship was found between the students' age and academic self-efficacy (r = .21; p < 0.01). As for the fear of negative evaluation with age (r=-.21; p<0.01), social avoidance and feeling uneasy in new situations in adolescents (r=-.18; p<0.01), and social avoidance and feeling uneasy in general situations in adolescents (r=-. 33; p<0.01), a negative, weak and significant relationship was found in the dimensions of interest. Fear of being negatively evaluated by the class (r=-.17; p<0.01), social avoidance feeling uneasy in new situations (r=-.19; p<0.01) and social avoidance feeling uneasy in general situations (r=-28.; p< 0.01), it was found that there was a negative, weak and significant relationship. A weak, positive and significant relationship was found between grade and academic self-efficacy (r=.20; p<0.01). When social media attitude scores were examined, a negative and significant relationship was found between academic self-efficacy (r=-.10; p<0.05) and emotional self-efficacy (r=-.09; p<0.05). With the academic self-efficacy dimension, fear of negative evaluation (r=-.13; p<0.05), social avoidance and uneasiness in new situations (r=-.13; p<0.01), and social avoidance and uneasiness in general situations (r= -.21; p<0.01) a negative, weak and significant relationship was found. A negative, weak and significant relationship was found between the emotional self-efficacy dimension and the dimensions of social avoidance and feeling restless in general situations (r = -.15; p < 0.01). There is a negative, weak and significant relationship between the social self-efficacy dimension and the fear of negative evaluation (r=-.13; p<0.01) and social avoidance and feeling uneasy in general situations (r=-.17; p<0.01). has been found. According to the regression analysis findings, the increase in emotional self-efficacy (b=.36; p<0.001), academic self-efficacy (b=.35; p<0.001) and social media attitude (b=.10; p<0.05) scores significantly predict the increase in social self-efficacy scores. As a result, our research has shown that social media use has a positive effect among the factors predicting adolescents' social anxiety and self-efficacy.