The Impact of Social Media Problematic Use on Psychological Wellbeing and Frustration among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Comparative Study

The objective of the study is to address a gap in the current literature by exploring the impact of problematic social media use on psychological wellbeing and frustration among adolescents and young adults, as well as to examine mean differences between these groups with respect to the study variables: social media problematic use, psychological wellbeing, and frustration. The study employed a cross-sectional correlational design and a purposive sampling technique to collect data from 322 students, including adolescents aged 12 to 19 and young adults aged 20 to 35. Three measures were used: the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), the Psychological Well-Being Scale, and the Frustration Discomfort Scale. Correlational analysis revealed that among adolescents, social media problematic use is significantly and negatively related to psychological well-being and frustration. Among young adults, social media problematic use is significantly and negatively related to psychological well-being, but its relationship with frustration is positive, though not significant. Regression analysis indicates that problematic social media use among adolescents significantly and negatively predicts psychological well-being, while positively and significantly predicting frustration. For young adults, however, problematic social media use does not significantly predict psychological well-being or frustration. Independent sample t-tests show that adolescents scored significantly higher on social media addiction and also scored higher on frustration, though the latter difference was not significant compared to young adults. Conversely, young adults scored significantly higher on psychological well-being than adolescents. The study provides important implications, particularly for adolescents, who appear to be the more affected group.