Sosyal medya bağımlılığı, depresyon düzeyi ve Türk ergenlerde benlik algısı: Pandemi sonrası sonuçlar

As a result of the rapid development of technology and easier access, social media addiction has become the biggest problem for adolescents of this age. This research aimed to examine the effects of self-perception, depression, and social media addiction on adolescents. The research was conducted using a relational survey design with 475 adolescents. The participants comprised 266 (56%) girls and 209 (44%) boys attending various middle and high schools. They are studying at different grade levels in Turkey. The data were collected face-to-face in 2023-2024 when the pandemic restrictions were lifted. Within the scope of the research, the Personal Information Form prepared by the researcher, the Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents (SMAAS), the Self-Perception Scale for Adolescents, and the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (KADS) were used as data collection tools to determine the personal information of the participants. After testing the proposed model using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), it was revealed that depression and self-perception have a significant effect on social media addiction. According to the results of the study, it was determined that the level of depression predicted social media addiction (SMA). In addition, it was found that the indirect effect of adolescents' depression levels on social media addiction through their self-perception was statistically significant.