The relationship between social media addiction and social appearance anxiety and social phobia in adolescents

This study aimed to determine the relationship between social media addiction and social appearance anxiety and social phobia in adolescents. For this purpose, the study was conducted with 359 adolescents between the ages of 14-18 who attend private and public educational institutions affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the central districts of Ankara. In the research designed based on the relational screening model, accessible sampling was used as the sample selection. Within the scope of the research, the Social Media Addiction Scale developed by Günüç (2009) and revised by Çömlekci and Başol (2019) was used to assess the social media addiction of adolescents; the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale adapted into Turkish by Doğan (2010) was used to assess the social appearance anxiety of adolescents; and the Çapa Social Phobia Scale for Children and Adolescents developed by Demir ve ark (1999) was used to assess the social phobia of adolescents. In order to reach the research findings, Data Analysis Package Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) 22.0 was used, and unrelated groups t-test, variance analysis, Kruskal Wallis H test, Pearson correlation analysis test and simple linear regression analysis were used. As a result of the research, it was concluded that there was a positive and significant relationship between adolescents' social media addiction, social appearance anxiety and social phobia scores and the time spent on social media; and that there was a positive and significant relationship between adolescents' social appearance anxiety, social media addiction and social phobia scores. In addition, as a result of the simple linear regression analysis, it was concluded that adolescents' social media addiction scores explained social appearance anxiety scores; social media addiction scores explained social phobia scores and social appearance anxiety scores explained social phobia scores at a significant level. Key Words: Body Perception, Digital Interaction Social Appearance Anxiety, Social Media Addiction, Social Phobia