Reciprocal links among gratitude, emotion regulation, and social media addiction: A positive psychology framework

Social media addiction (SMA) is prevalent across age groups and has attracted both public concern and scholarly attention. From a positive psychology perspective, this longitudinal study focused on gratitude and emotion regulation, examining the prospective effects of these two socio-emotional strengths on SMA. Using an online survey platform, 660 participants (54.1% female) aged 19 to 69 years (M = 32.99, SD = 7.63) completed the baseline and 6-month follow-up questionnaires in January and July 2024. As hypothesized, gratitude and emotion regulation were negatively correlated with SMA at both waves. The cross-lagged panel model further demonstrated the bidirectional associations: higher baseline gratitude and emotion regulation predicted lower SMA at follow-up, whereas baseline SMA predicted decreases in subsequent gratitude and emotion regulation. Moreover, baseline emotion regulation predicted higher gratitude at follow-up, but the reverse pathway was not observed. These findings support positive psychology interventions that strengthen gratitude and emotion regulation as preventive strategies against SMA.