Social media addiction, personality, psychopathology and gender: Cross-sectional and longitudinal findings in adolescents

Social media addiction (SMA) is associated with a wide range of psychological problems in adults, but there are fewer studies about its impact on adolescents. A first step for SMA research in adolescents is to develop instruments to properly examine SMA among them. So the first aim of the current study was to explore the psychometric properties of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) among Spanish adolescents. The study also examined the role of personality in SMA, the associations between SMA and mental health both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, and how these associations may be affected by gender and when personality is considered. A sample of 616 adolescents participated in the study (mean age = 15.01, SD = 1.17, 309 girls), with 1-year follow-up with 222 of them. The BSMAS emerged as a psychometrically sound instrument to assess SMA in adolescents, and showed proper evidence for construct and criterion-related validity, invariance between genders and excellent internal consistency. SMA was related to extraversion, neuroticism and low agreeableness in boys, and to neuroticism, extraversion and lower conscientiousness, openness and agreeableness in girls. SMA showed cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with many psychological problems, with differential associations appearing according to gender, but most disappeared when considering personality. Accordingly, disordered gaming and defiant behaviors predicted SMA after controlling for personality. These findings show the importance of using longitudinal designs and considering personality and gender when examining SMA development and its relations with psychological problems.