Basic psychological needs and shyness as predictors of social media addiction

This research aims to examine university students' levels of social media addictions according to such variables as parents' level of education, the daily social media use time, basic psychological needs, and shyness. The study group consists of 532 (393 female, 139 male) students at universities in Ankara and Izmir. To collect data, demographic information form, Social Media Addiction Scale – Adult Form, Need Satisfaction Scale, and Shyness Scale were utilized. According to the findings of this research, while students' levels of social media addiction vary according to their gender and their daily social media use time, they do not vary according to their parents' level of education. It was also seen that female students have a higher level of social media addiction compared to male students; similarly, students who spend 5 hours or more on social media have a higher level of social media addiction compared to other students. Moreover, it was determined that the need for autonomy negatively predicts social media addiction while it does not significantly predict other sub-dimensions of basic psychological needs, namely, the need for competence and the need for relatedness. It was determined that shyness positively predicts social media addiction. In the result of regression analysis, it was found that the need for autonomy and shyness explained social mdia addiction at the rate of 13.9%. The findings were discussed and suggestions were made in the light of the literature.