Examining the mediating role of difficulty in emotion regulation in the relationship of childhood traumas with social media addiction

The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation in the relationship between childhood psychological traumas and social media addiction. In this context, a total of 429 adults (263 women and 166 men), aged between 18 and 75, voluntarily participated in the study. To collect data, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Social Media Addiction Scale–Adult Form (SMAS-AF), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16), and a Sociodemographic and Personal Information Form prepared by the researcher were utilized. The differences in the independent, dependent, and mediating variables based on demographic information such as gender and marital status, obtained through the Sociodemographic and Personal Information Form, were analyzed. IBM SPSS 27 software was used for the statistical analyses. To examine the mediating effect of difficulties in emotion regulation, a Structural Equation Model (SEM) was established. Based on the model, it was observed that difficulty in emotion regulation played a mediating role in the relationship between childhood psychological traumas and social media addiction.