Mediating roles in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and social media addiction: An intervention study

This study examined the relationship between negative childhood experiences and social media addiction and investigated whether the intervention program with creative drama changed this relationship mechanism. In the first stage of this study, which was conducted in two stages, it was aimed to examine the mediating role of interpersonal competence and alexithymia variables in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and social media addiction. In the second stage, it was aimed to examine the moderating effect of the creative drama program on this mediated relationship. The first phase was a quantitative study with a correlational design. The second phase was conducted using a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test-post-test control group. While 1147 university students staying in the dormitories of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Isparta participated in the first stage, 241 students were included in the second stage independently of the first sample. In order to test the mediation hypotheses in the first stage and the moderated mediation hypotheses in the second stage, analyses were performed with the SPSS 27.0.1 program by adding the PROCESS V 43 Macro Model extension. Personal Information Form, Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale, Interpersonal Competence Scale - Short Form, Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Social Media Addiction Scale - Adult Form were used in the research. As a result of the analyses, a positive relationship was found between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and social media addiction (SMB) and alexithymia in the first stage, while a negative relationship was found between ACE and interpersonal competence (KAY). As a result of the mediation analyses, it was seen that both alexithymia level and KAY level mediated the relationship between ACE and SMB separately. In the second stage, a creative drama program designed to reduce alexithymia and increase interpersonal competence was applied to 117 university students in collaboration with two creative drama experts and six psychologists. Data obtained from the pre-test and post-test scores of both the experimental group to which the creative drama program was applied and the control group of 124 students on the waiting list whose sociodemographic characteristics were similar to the experimental group were analyzed. As a result of the relevant analyses, it was observed that the applied creative drama program particularly increased KAY scores and decreased alexithymia scores. As a result of the moderated mediation analyses, in the model where KAY played a mediating role in the relationship between ACE and SMB, the creative drama program was seen to have a moderating role in the mediating relationship by changing the relationship between ACE and KAY. However, the moderating role of the creative drama program was not determined in the model in which alexithymia played a mediating role in the relationship between ACE and SMB. As a result, it was stated that the increase in ACEs decreased interpersonal competence skills and increased alexithymia level and social media addiction level. In addition, it was emphasized in this study that the relationship between ACEs and SMB scores partially occurred through KAY and alexithymia. In the second stage of the study, it was stated that the applied creative drama program could increase interpersonal competence scores and decrease alexithymia levels. In addition, it was observed that the creative drama program buffered the negative effect of ACEs on SMB. Finally, in the model where ACEs affect SMB through KAY, it was emphasized that creative drama regulates this indirect relationship. Although it is not possible to directly change the childhood experiences of adults, there is hope to reduce the negative reflections of ACEs in adulthood. More intervention studies are needed to reduce these negative effects.