Effect of Automatic Thoughts on Social Media Addiction in University Students

This study aimed to determine the effect of automatic thoughts on social media addiction (SMA) in university students.The current research is descriptive.The study population consisted of all students studying at Idir University in the 2022-2023 academic year (N=14.000); the sample consisted of 631 people.Data were collected using a general information form, the SMA Scale (SMAS), and the Automatic Thoughts Scale (ATS).Descriptive statistical analyses (percentage, minimum, maximum, and mean), independent sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance Pearson correlation, and multivariate linear regression analysis were used to evaluate the data.The mean age of the students in the sample was 20.711.99,and 67.5% were female.The students were less dependent on social media (SM) and the level of negative automatic thoughts was above average.A significant difference was found between ATS and gender, family income status, psychiatric disorder status, and duration of SM use (p<0.05).The difference between SMAS and gender, psychiatric disorder status, years of SM use, and duration of use was statistically significant (p<0.05).A moderately significant relationship was statistically determined between ATS and SMAS (r=0.423;p<0.05).Finally, it was determined that automatic thoughts significantly predicted SMA (F (2-436) =136.929;p<0.05).Consequently, it was determined that as automatic thoughts increase, SMA increases and automatic thoughts predict SMA.Furthermore, providing students with training programs that develop functional automatic thoughts instead of dysfunctional automatic thoughts and reduce their SM use may be important.