Sociocultural, Behavioral, and Physical Correlates of Excessive Social Media Use, Addiction, and Motivation Toward Reduction in a Hispanic College Student Sample.

Abstract

Social media use has been associated with adverse health consequences. However, there is limited research assessing correlates of social media use, addiction, failure to control use, and motivation to reduce use in a Hispanic sample. This study aimed to fill this gap by assessing factors within the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Framework. Participants were Hispanic college students (n = 273) residing either in the United States or Mexico who completed an online survey. Univariate analyses determined independent variables to be assessed in four linear regression models. Results indicated that weekly social media use was negatively associated with sex, attentional impulsivity, and social comparison and positively associated with social media craving (SMC). Social media addiction was positively associated with frequency of posting in Spanish, Fear of Missing Out, SMC, and home restriction of social media use. Social media self-control failure was negatively associated with acculturative language and positively associated with frequency of posting in English, attentional impulsiveness, SMC, and home restriction of social media use. Motivation to reduce social media use was positively associated with residing in the United States. Clinical implications include targeting key factors through tailored interventions aimed at promoting adaptive social media use patterns.