ArticleFrontiers in psychology2025
The effects of social media addiction on college students' psychological anxiety: the mediating role of self-efficacy and coping styles.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mediating Effect of Perceived Ageism Experiences Between TikTok Addiction Symptoms and Psychological Distress: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Use of health information from social media and health self-efficacy: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Association between exercise-related social media use and exercise self-efficacy: a PLS-SEM approach.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Social media use motives and academic performance among Saudi medical students: the mediating role of perceived stress.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- When stress meets the feed: algorithmic curation, digital stress relief, and academic amotivation in the attention economy.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Social media problematic use, memory concerns, and confidence in young female students from an underrepresented student population.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Narrating anxiety as "ordinary": digital self-healing diaries and the normalization of anxiety on Chinese social media.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
Background: Social media addiction (SMA) has emerged as a significant mental health concern among Chinese college students, particularly within the context of intense academic competition and collectivist cultural pressures. While the direct relationship between SMA and psychological anxiety is well-documented, the underlying psychological mechanisms remain poorly understood. Objective: This study investigated the complex pathways through which social media addiction influences psychological anxiety among Chinese college students, with particular focus on the mediating roles of self-efficacy and coping styles within China's unique cultural and educational context. Methods: Using stratified random sampling, 615 valid responses were collected from Chinese college students across different university types and geographic regions (response rate: 92.86%). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the relationships between SMA, self-efficacy, coping styles (positive and negative), and psychological anxiety. The quantitative analysis was supplemented with semi-structured interviews of 25 participants to provide contextual insights into the identified mechanisms. Results: The study found that social media anxiety (SMA) directly increases anxiety ( Conclusion: This study provides robust evidence for a multi-pathway model linking social media addiction to psychological anxiety among Chinese college students. SMA's effects go beyond direct impacts, disrupting key psychological defenses like self-efficacy and adaptive coping. The chain mediation effect exposes a concerning sequential psychological erosion, especially given the sample's high baseline anxiety (mean SAS = 63.08). These findings emphasize the need for holistic interventions targeting addiction, boosting self-efficacy, and fostering adaptive coping. They also highlight the importance of university mental health services and digital wellness programs in tackling the escalating mental health challenges faced by digitally immersed students.
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