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Cited by 13Impact of Technology on AdolescentsCOVID-19 and Mental HealthStudent Stress and Coping

Wellbeing, social media addiction and coping strategies among Chilean adolescents during the pandemic

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Varela, Jorge J., Pérez, Janet Carola, Rodríguez-Rivas, Matías E., Chuecas, María Josefina, Romo, Javiera·2023·Frontiers in Psychiatry
DOI 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1211431PMC PMC10497769
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Abstract

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents had to deal with a range of mental health problems that has increased social media addiction levels with adverse effects on life satisfaction. Previous studies have explored coping mechanisms to deal with this addiction problem, but did not consider the need to simultaneously cope with different dimensions. Therefore, our study aimed to examine the moderating effect of various coping mechanisms on the relationship between social media addiction and adolescent life satisfaction. Methods: Self-report questionnaires were applied to 1290 secondary school students (age mean = 16.03, SD = 1.27, range: 14 to 19; and 57% female). An exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis were performed to determine the factor structure of the Brief-Cope 28 scale. Then, a descriptive and correlational analysis of the variables and a multiple linear regression analysis was performed. Results: We found that the social media addiction risk was negatively associated with life satisfaction, adaptive strategies were positively correlated to life satisfaction, and maladaptive strategies were negatively correlated to it. Also, a moderation model was evaluated in which four stress management strategies, namely acceptance and perspective-taking, seeking socio-emotional support, active coping, and maladaptive strategies all conditioned the relationship between social media addiction risk and life satisfaction after controlling for demographic variables and the specific strategies of using comedy, religion and substance use. Results indicate additive and multiplicative effects of management strategies for stressful situations in the studied relationship. Seeking socio-emotional support and active coping were positively related to life satisfaction and maladaptive strategies were negatively associated with it. Multiplicative effects indicate that the relationship between the social media addiction risk and life satisfaction depends only on the acceptance and perspective taking that adolescents report. When adolescents reported having low or average levels of acceptance and perspective taking, there was a negative correlation with general life satisfaction, a connection that grew markedly stronger. In contrast, no connection between social media addiction and life satisfaction was detected for adolescents who report higher levels of acceptance and perspective-taking. Discussion: Abuse of social media and the use of maladaptive stress coping strategies were risk factors that decreased life satisfaction among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Varela, J. J., Pérez, J. C., Rodríguez-Rivas, M. E., Chuecas, M. J., & Romo, J.
Affiliations
Universidad del Desarrollo (CL)
Corresponding author
Varela, Jorge J.
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2023-08-29
Volume
14
Pages
1211431-1211431
ISSN
1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1211431
PMC
PMC10497769
OpenAlex
W4386291951
Cited by
13
References
12
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1
FWCI
5.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (1201576)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
Keywords
social media addiction, adolescents, life satisfaction, coping strategies, COVID-19 pandemic, stress management, active coping, maladaptive coping, Brief COPE, Chilean adolescents

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