Social media addiction profiles and their antecedents using latent profile analysis: The contribution of social anxiety, gender, and age

Abstract

Few studies examining social media addiction have been based on a person-centered approach. Therefore, the current study explored distinct profiles of this construct starting from a psychosocial model. Using latent profile analysis (LPA) can increase understanding of social media addiction (SMA) by exploring the antecedents of latent subgrouping in data in terms of social anxiety, gender, and age. The profile indicators were social media addiction, need to belong, anxious attachment, and social media intensity use (SMIU). Data were collected from 705 participants (61% females, age range 18-54 years, Mage = 30.2 years). LPA showed three distinct profiles: ‘low risk of addiction’ (61.3%), ‘moderate risk of addiction’ (29.6%), and ‘high risk of addiction’ (9.1%). Social anxiety, gender, and age were antecedents of the profiles. These results based on mixture modeling approach are meaningful to the field, bringing a complementary view to the previous findings obtained in a psychopathological framework. The findings could aid the practitioners in the development of targeting at-risk social media users, namely social anxious young adult females with an unmet need to belong and anxious attachment, and designing programs to help them to develop rewarding social relationships and healthy social media use.

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