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Mediation

Anxiety Disorders Research Reveals Complex Relationships Between Social Media Use, Social Anxiety, and Discontinuous Usage

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

College students' problematic social media use and social anxiety on social networking sites are linked to social media burnout and discontinuous usage, according to a recent study published in Scientific Reports. The researchers examined the structural relationships between these variables using a stress-strain-outcome framework, involving 715 college students in Turkiye. The study found that social media burnout mediated the negative effect of problematic social media use on discontinuous usage, and that social anxiety on social networking sites had a buffering moderating effect on this relationship.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study involved 715 college students in Turkiye, with 58.5% female and a mean age of 21.71.
  • The research sample was analyzed using a stress-strain-outcome framework to examine the relationships between problematic social media use, social anxiety on social networking sites, social media burnout, and discontinuous usage.
  • Social media burnout was found to mediate the negative effect of problematic social media use on discontinuous usage.
  • Social anxiety on social networking sites had a buffering moderating effect on the relationship between problematic social media use and discontinuous usage.
  • Social media burnout was positively correlated with problematic social media use and discontinuous usage.
  • Self-evaluation anxiety and shared content anxiety were positively correlated with both problematic social media use and discontinuous usage.
  • The study provides empirical evidence for the "SMB paradox" literature and extends the "paradox of social anxiety" phenomenon to social media.
  • The research demonstrates complex relationships between the antecedents of discontinuous usage from the stress-strain-outcome framework.
  • The study's findings have implications for understanding the complex relationships between social media use, social anxiety, and discontinuous usage.

Statistics:

  • 715 college students were involved in the research study.
  • 58.5% (418 students) of the sample were female.
  • The mean age of the sample was 21.71 years.
  • The study used a stress-strain-outcome framework to analyze the relationships between problematic social media use, social anxiety on social networking sites, social media burnout, and discontinuous usage.
  • Social media burnout was found to mediate the negative effect of problematic social media use on discontinuous usage (mediation effect = 0.35).
  • Social anxiety on social networking sites had a moderating effect on the relationship between problematic social media use and discontinuous usage (moderation effect = 0.25).
  • Social media burnout was positively correlated with problematic social media use (r = 0.32) and discontinuous usage (r = 0.29).

Sources:

  • Social media burnout and social anxiety as antecedents of discontinuous usage in the stressor-strain-outcome framework. Scientific Reports, 2025,15(1):1-14. (Scientific Reports - http://www.nature.com/srep/index.html).
  • NewsRx. Researchers from Anadolu University Detail Findings in Anxiety Disorders (Social media burnout and social anxiety as antecedents of discontinuous usage in the stressor-strain-outcome framework). Health & Medicine Week. September 5, 2025; p 6131.

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