duzce med j

Duzce Medical Journal

1307-671X

Duzce University

10.18678/dtfd.1719528

Psychiatry

Psikiyatri

A Study on Social Media Addiction: The Roles of Personality, Internet Use, and Platform Preference

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7964-6733

Barak

Ayşegül

Niğde Ömer Halis Demir University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9853-745X

Koç

Aslı Enzel

Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Department of Psychiatry

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6613-4317

Hocaoğlu

Çiçek

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry

04 25 2026

28 1 28 34 06 16 2025 02 10 2026

1999

Duzce Medical Journal

Aim: This study aimed to determine the relative contributions of personality traits, internet addiction, and social media platform preferences to social media addiction, within the framework of the big five personality model.Material and Methods: Data were collected from 335 participants via an online survey. Participants completed the ten-item personality inventory (TIPI), the Bergen social media addiction scale (BSMAS), and the internet addiction test scale (IATS). Platform usage was also recorded. Robust regression analyses were conducted sequentially in three models to assess the incremental effects of personality traits, internet addiction, and platform usage.Results: Neuroticism was positively (β=0.477, p=0.004) and conscientiousness was negatively (β=-0.480, p=0.013) associated with social media addiction in the first model. When IATS was included, the model’s explanatory power increased (R²=27.3%), while the relationships between personality traits and social media addiction weakened. In the final model, which replaced IATS with social media platform variables, neuroticism (β=0.319, p=0.044) remained positively associated, whereas conscientiousness (β=-0.446, p=0.017) and extraversion (β=-0.360, p=0.033) showed negative associations. Among platforms, Instagram (β=2.646, p<0.001), TikTok (β=2.995, p=0.002), and Snapchat (β=2.652, p=0.022) were significantly related to higher social media addiction scores.Conclusion: The findings suggest that personality traits play a limited role in explaining social media addiction, whereas the type of platform used appears more influential. These results highlight the importance of integrating platform-specific dynamics with individual characteristics when understanding social media addiction.

Social media addiction personality traits internet addiction social networking sites big five model

Marciano L, Camerini AL, Schulz PJ. Neuroticism in the digital age: a meta-analysis. Comput Hum Behav Rep. 2020;2:100026. doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2020.100026.

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2013.

Jaradat MIR, Atyeh AJ. Do personality traits play a role in social media addiction? Key considerations for successful optimized model to avoid social networking sites addiction: a developing country perspective. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security. 2017;17(8):120-31.

Kuss DJ, Griffiths MD. Online social networking and addiction--a review of the psychological literature. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2011;8(9):3528-52. doi:10.3390/ijerph8093528.

Sheldon P, Antony MG, Ware LJ. Baby boomers' use of Facebook and Instagram: uses and gratifications theory and contextual age indicators. Heliyon. 2021;7(4):e06670. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06670.

Pellegrino A, Stasi A, Bhatiasevi V. Research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use: a bibliometric analysis. Front Psychiatry. 2022;13:1017506. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1017506.

McCrae RR, Costa PT Jr. Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1987;52(1):81-90. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.52.1.81.

Kayiş AR, Satici SA, Yilmaz MF, Şimşek D, Ceyhan E, Bakioğlu F. Big five personality trait and internet addiction: a meta-analytic review. Computers in Human Behavior. 2016;63:35-40. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.012.

Liu D, Campbell WK. The big five personality traits, big two metatraits, and social media: a meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality. 2017;70:229-40. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2017.08.004.

Gosling SD, Rentfrow PJ, Swann Jr WB. A very brief measure of the big five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality. 2003;37(6):504-28. doi:10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00046-1.

Atak H. The Turkish adaptation of the ten-item personality inventory. Noro Psikiyatr Ars. 2013;50(4):312-9. doi:10.4274/npa.y6128.

Schou Andreassen C, Billieux J, Griffiths MD, Kuss DJ, Demetrovics Z, Mazzoni E, et al. The relationship between addictive use of social media and video games and symptoms of psychiatric disorders: a large-scale cross-sectional study. Psychol Addict Behav. 2016;30(2):252-62. doi:10.1037/adb0000160.

Demirci İ. Bergen Sosyal Medya Bağımlılığı Ölçeğinin Türkçeye uyarlanması,depresyon ve anksiyete belirtileriyle ilişkisinin değerlendirilmesi [The adaptation of the Bergen social media addiction scale to Turkish and its evaluation of relationships with depression and anxiety symptoms]. Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg. 2019;20(Suppl 1):15-22. Turkish. doi:10.5455/apd.41585.

Kayri M, Günüç S. The adaptation of internet addiction scale into Turkish: the study of validity and reliability. Ankara University, Journal of Faculty of Educational Sciences. 2009;42(1):157-75. doi:10.1501/Egifak_0000001142.

Anderson EL, Steen E, Stavropoulos V. Internet use and problematic internet use: a systematic review of longitudinal research trends in adolescence and emergent adulthood. Int J Adolesc Youth. 2017;22(4):430-54. doi:10.1080/02673843.2016.1227716.

Kuss DJ, Griffiths MD. Internet addiction in psychotherapy. London: Palgrave; 2015.

Su W, Han X, Yu H, Wu Y, Potenza MN. Do men become addicted to internet gaming and women to social media? A meta-analysis examining gender-related differences in specific internet addiction. Computer in Human Behavior. 2020;113:106480. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106480.

Kircaburun K, Alhabash S, Tosuntaş ŞB, Griffiths MD. Uses and gratifications of problematic social media use among university students: a simultaneous examination of the big five personality traits, social media platforms, and social media use motives. Int J Ment Health Addiction. 2020;18:525-47. doi:10.1007/s11469-018-9940-6.

Choi TR, Sung Y, Lee JA, Choi SM. Get behind my selfies: the big five traits and social networking behaviors through selfies. Pers Individ Dif. 2017;109:98-101. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.12.057.

Sheldon P, Bryant K. Instagram: motives for its use and relationship to narcissism and contextual age. Computer in Human Behavior. 2016;58:89-97. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.059.

Alhabash S, Ma M. A tale of four platforms: motivations and uses of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat among college students. Social Media + Society. 2017;3(1):1-13. doi:10.1177/2056305117691544.

Fatuma D. The relationship between social media and anxiety. Research Invention Journal of Current Issues in Arts and Management. 2024;3(2):102-7.

Smith T, Short A. Needs affordance as a key factor in the likelihood of problematic social media use: validation, latent profile analysis and comparison of TikTok and Facebook problematic use measures. Addict Behav. 2022;129:107259. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107259.

Clausius M. The banning of TikTok, and the ban of foreign software for national security purposes. Wash U Global Stud L Rev. 2022;21(2):273-92.

Burke B. Gamify: how gamification motivates people to do extraordinary things. New York: Routledge; 2016.

Meshi D, Turel O, Henley D. Snapchat vs. Facebook: differences in problematic use, behavior change attempts, and trait social reward preferences. Addict Behav Rep. 2020;12:100294. doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2020.100294.

Meynadier J, Malouff JM, Schutte NS, Loi NM. Meta-analysis of associations between five-factor personality traits and problematic social media use. Curr Psychol. 2024;43:23016-35. doi:10.1007/s12144-024-06052-y.

Huang C. Social media addiction and personality: a meta-analysis. Asian J Soc Psychol. 2022;25(4):747-61. doi:10.1111/ajsp.12531.

Thørrisen MM, Sadeghi T. The Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI): A scoping review of versions, translations and psychometric properties. Front Psychol. 2023;14:1202953. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1202953.