The Effect Of Social Media Use On Disaster Anxiety Level Of Individuals

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between individuals' social media use and disaster anxiety levels.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between July and August 2023.The study involved 603 participants over the age of 18 who were living in XXX province and had access to social media. The data were collected using the "Descriptive Questionnaire" the "Social Media Use Scale" and the "Disaster Anxiety Scale" to interpret the data, percentages, averages, independent group t-tests, ANOVA tests, Pearson correlations and simple linear regression analyses were used. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to test whether the model structure of the study was sufficient to explain the research. Every step of the research process was conducted in accordance with ethical principles.Results: In this study, 53.5% of the participants were between the ages of 18 and 29,78.6% lived in an apartment building and 66.8% had personal experience with disasters. It was determined that 49.7% of participants had a mild level of disaster anxiety based on the Disaster Anxiety Scale. The overall mean score of the Disaster Anxiety Scale was found to be 11.54±8.27, while the overall mean score of the Social Media Use Scale was 22.31±6.66.Conclusion: These results suggested a positive but marginal relationship between social media use and disaster anxiety. As a result, it was revealed that participants' levels of disaster anxiety increased with the increased use of social media.Keywords: Anxiety, disaster, earthquake, social media.