ArticleBMC medical education2024
Psychological distress, social media use, and academic performance of medical students: the mediating role of coping style.
Article in BMC medical education, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Psychosocial factors associated with academic performance in medical students: a systematic review.BMC medical education · 2026Pooled it
- A Mobile-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Reducing Demoralization in Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- When social media hurts: a nine-month prospective study on self-blame as a mediator between problematic social media use and suicidal ideation in adolescents.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Peer pressure and fear of missing out among university students in the social media environment: the influence mechanism of self‑authenticity.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Time to Address Eating Disorder Risk Among Medical Students.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Prevalence of Social Media Addiction and Associations With Usage Patterns, Burnout, and Health Conditions Among Medical Trainees in China: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Article
- Physical activity and social media addiction: a multi-mediation analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- When stress meets the feed: algorithmic curation, digital stress relief, and academic amotivation in the attention economy.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Development and validation of the Lebanese Social Media Dependency Scale (LSMDS): A cross-sectional study among university students.PloS one · 2026Article
- Latent profile analysis of self-efficacy in information security and positive coping level among nursing students: a multicenter cross-sectional study in China.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Social media use motives and academic performance among Saudi medical students: the mediating role of perceived stress.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Mental health and psychological distress in healthcare-related students post-pandemic: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Social networks, messaging apps, addictive use, and academic performance in adolescents: findings from the EHDLA study.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- Exploring the meta-motivational strategies utilized by medical students in Jordan: an exploratory study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Network analysis of comorbid mental health disorders among people with HIV in the All of Us Research Program.Research square · 2025Article
- Problematic Social Media Use Among University Entrance Test-Takers: Prevalence, Psychosocial Factors, and a Mediation-Moderation Model.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- Social support as a mediator between life events and non-suicidal self-injury: evidence for urban-rural moderation in medical students.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Effect of emotional intelligence on problematic mobile social media use: mediating role of peer relationships and experiential avoidance.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundGiven that social media use (SMU) is an increasingly widespread activity among university students, more information is needed to evaluate its relationship with students' mental health, particularly medical students.
objectiveThe present study assessed the relationships between SMU and coping style with psychological distress and academic performance of medical students.
methodsAn offline cross-sectional survey conducted with 398 undergraduate medical students. The survey collected data on demographics, psychological distress (DASS-21), coping strategies (Brief COPE Scale), academic performance (grade point average) and estimated average time spent on social media per day. Structural equation modeling was used to clarify relationships between the main study variables. The study also examined the mediating effect of maladaptive coping between SMU and psychological distress.
resultsStudents with higher levels of psychological distress were more likely to be engaged in frequent social media use. Spending more than two hours a day on social media use had a positive association with maladaptive coping (p < 0.001), particularly with substance use and behavioral disengagement both of which could negatively affect academic performance. Maladaptive coping mediated the relationship between students' SMU and psychological distress.
conclusionThe findings suggest that medical students commonly use social media as a maladaptive coping tool to deal with psychological distress. Empowering students to adopt and foster appropriate coping strategies could help them to enhance resilience against life stresses and ameliorate potential long-term mental health consequences associated with maladaptive behaviors.
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