Investigation of the relationship between social media addiction and psychological symptoms in middle school students

This study aimed to examine the relationship between social media addiction and psychological symptoms in secondary school students. The study group of the research consists of 385 secondary school students studying in Aliağa district of Izmir. The data of the study was obtained with the Personal Information Form, Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents and Brief Symptom Inventory. The relational screening model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. Normality analysis was performed to determine which analysis method would be used to analyze the data obtained within the scope of the research. Since the data did not show a normal distribution as a result of the normality analysis, data analysis was performed with non-parametric tests. In the research, it was found that the social media addiction scores of secondary school students did not show a statistically significant difference according to the variables of gender, grade level, and means of accessing social media. In addition, it was found that secondary school students' social media addiction scores showed statistically significant differences according to age, perceived academic success, time spent on social media, and perceived academic success variables. In the study, it was determined that the highest mean score of the psychological symptom subscales of secondary school students was in the anxiety subscale, and the lowest mean score was in the hostility subscale. In addition, the average depression score of the students participating in the study was found to be higher. On the other hand, it was found that secondary school students' psychological symptom scores showed statistically significant differences according to gender, grade level, perceived academic success, and time spent on social media. In the study, it was found that the psychological symptom scores of secondary school students did not show a statistically significant difference according to the variables of class level, age, number of siblings, and means of access to social media. As a result of the analysis conducted to determine the relationship between social media addiction and psychological symptoms in secondary school students, there was a positive and significant relationship between social media addiction and anxiety, a positive significant relationship between social media addiction and depression, and a positive and significant relationship between social media addiction and negative self. It was determined that there was a significant positive relationship between social media addiction and somatization, and a positive significant relationship between social media addiction and hostility.