Relationship of social media addiction in university students with social appearance anxiety and fear of negative evaluation

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between social media addiction, fear of negative evaluation and social appearance anxiety, and to examine how these variables differ according to the demographic characteristics of the participants. The relational screening model was used in this study. The study group of the research consisted of 313 university students. Personal Information Form, Social Media Addiction Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, Social Appearance Anxiety Scale were used in the study. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and pearson correlation analysis, multiple linear regression analysis, independent groups t-test, ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis H test were used in the analysis of the data. The data analysis was performed with SPSS 25 software package. A statistically significant relationship was found between fear of negative evaluation, social appearance anxiety, and social media addiction. It was determined that as the fear of negative evaluation increases, social appearance anxiety increases. Additionally, as social media addiction increases, social appearance anxiety and fear of negative evaluation increase. In addition, it was determined that fear of negative evaluation and social appearance anxiety predicted social media addiction. The findings are discussed in the light of the literature.