Associated Factors of Social Media Addiction and Their Effects on Psychological Wellbeing of University Students: The Case of University of Gondar, College of Medical and Health Sciences

Abstract

Though the number of students who use social media in academic institutions increases globally, it has been reported to have side effects on students psychological wellbeing if they are addicted to it. The objective of this study was to investigate factors associated with students’ social media addiction and its effects on their psychological wellbeing. Hence, using a cross-sectional survey design a total of 250 (male=150 female=100) undergraduate students involved in the study. Data were collected through pilot-tested standardized scales. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 20. Particularly, Mean, Standard Deviation, Pearson Correlation and Multiple linear regressions were used for data analysis. Findings show that the majority of 146(58%) of the respondents scored above the average (M= 41.3 & SD=9.9)) on social media addiction scale. Moreover, analysis of Pearson correlation showed that social media addiction has statistically significant negative relationship with psychological wellbeing (r= - 0.795, p<0.01). Analysis of multiple linear regression confirmed that both independent and moderating variables entered the model explained about 82.6 percent of variation in the level of students’ psychological wellbeing (p<0.01). Weekly time spent on social media (β = .526, p = .000) was found to have the strongest effect on respondents’ psychological wellbeing followed by sex (β = .481, p = .000), age (β = .460, p = .000) and social media addiction (β = .246, p =.013) at 1 percent level of significance. Type of social media instrument was found to be the least predictor of students’ psychological wellbeing (β = .159, p =.003). Finally, it is recommended that social workers should work jointly with volunteer students and university guidance and counseling personnel in developing students’ awareness regarding safe use of social media.