ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Social isolation during the lockdown, and the greater use of online platforms to connect with other people, can alter the dynamic relationship between loneliness, social media use, and subjective well-being. The study examines the mediating role of loneliness in the bidirectional association between Instagram addiction and life satisfaction. METHODS: A sample of 954 university students from Poland were enrolled in a cross-sectional online study during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants aged between 19 and 42 (M = 22.56, SD = 2.36), and most of them were women (86.48%). Standardized questionnaires were used to measure Instagram addiction (BIAS), loneliness (DJGLS), and life satisfaction (SWLS). RESULTS: The prevalence of Instagram addiction, loneliness, and dissatisfaction with life was 17.19%, 75%, and 40.15%, respectively. The mediating effect of loneliness on the relationship between Instagram addiction and life satisfaction was found bidirectionally in women but not among men. CONCLUSIONS: Loneliness seems to play a crucial role in the mechanism of social media addiction, so increasing loneliness should be a priority among emerging adults. The target group for intervention and prevention programs at campuses should include lonely and dissatisfied with life university students of the female gender.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Loneliness , Adult , COVID-19/epidemiology , Communicable Disease Control , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Pandemics , Personal Satisfaction , Students , Universities , Young AdultABSTRACT
International research has underlined a worrying increase in Internet and Instagram addiction among emerging adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the role played by alexithymia and psychological distress due to COVID-19 has been evidenced, no study has explored their complex relationship in predicting emerging adults' Internet and Instagram addiction. The present study aimed to verify whether peritraumatic distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic mediated the relationship between emerging adults' alexithymia and their Internet/Instagram addiction, in a sample composed of n = 400 Italian emerging adults. Results showed that females had higher peritraumatic distress due to COVID-19 than males, whereas males had higher externally oriented thinking and higher levels of Internet addiction than females. Emerging adults' psychological distress due to COVID-19 significantly mediated the effect of alexithymia on Internet and Instagram addiction. Our findings supported the presence of a dynamic relationship between individual vulnerabilities and the co-occurrence of other psychological difficulties in predicting emerging adults' Internet and Instagram addiction during the pandemic, with important clinical implications.