Predicting high school students' social media addiction based on childhood experiences, social exclusion and social appearance anxiety

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between social media addiction levels of high school students and psychosocial variables such as childhood experiences, social exclusion, and social appearance anxiety and to determine the predictive power of these variables for social media addiction. The study was conducted with 690 high school students studying in the provincial center of Rize in the 2023-2024 academic year. "Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents", "Social Exclusion Scale", "Social Appearance Anxiety Scale" and "Childhood Experiences Scale" were used in the data collection process. T-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation and multiple regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data. The research findings revealed that female students had significantly higher social media addiction scores than male students. When examined in terms of age groups, it was determined that students in early and middle adolescence had higher social media addiction tendencies than students in late adolescence. As a result of the analyses conducted according to high school types, it was determined that the group with the highest level of social media addiction was social sciences high school students; while the lowest level of social media addiction was seen in vocational and technical Anatolian high school students. In addition, a strong positive relationship was found between the daily time spent on social media and social media addiction; it was determined that the increase in the variety of social media platforms used was also a factor that increased the level of addiction. As a result of multiple regression analysis, it was determined that the strongest predictor of social media addiction was social appearance anxiety, while social exclusion and childhood experiences were found to have limited effects. These findings reveal that social media addiction is closely related not only to demographic variables but also to individual and psychosocial factors. In this context, it is recommended that preventive and interventional studies to be carried out on social media addiction of high school students should be planned in a way that takes into account the students' social appearance anxiety and social attachment processes.