Research Article

Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach

Volume: 6 Number: 2 November 19, 2025

Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach

Abstract

Social media addiction has attracted research attention over the past decade. The reasons and factors that cause social media addiction remain undiscovered. Therefore, the research investigates novel factors using a person-centered approach. More specifically, the purpose of the present study is to determine the students’ profiles of social media addiction and to reveal the relationship between psychological flexibility, self-esteem, and mindfulness. Data was collected from 657 participants using convenience sampling. The research results indicated that university students have 4 distinct profiles. The profiles had characteristic: (i) Moderate user ‘High mindfulness, average social media addiction, but low self-esteem and psychological flexibility’, (ii) Balanced media engager ‘Average level of social media addiction, psychological flexibility, self-esteem, and mindfulness’, (iii) Tech-overuser ‘high social media addiction, but low psychological flexibility, self-esteem, and mindfulness’, (iv) Resilient low-addiction type ‘low social media addiction but high psychological flexibility, self-esteem, and mindfulness’. Mixture modeling approach-based studies incorporate complementary perspectives of the previous psychopathology literature. The findings may help practitioners target at-risk college students with high social media addiction but low psychological flexibility, self-esteem, and mindfulness and design programs to help them mitigate the effects of social media addiction.

Keywords

Ethical Statement

The study was approved by Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Scientific Research Ethics Committee (Reference number: 10838)

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

School Counseling

Journal Section

Research Article

Early Pub Date

July 30, 2025

Publication Date

November 19, 2025

Submission Date

May 7, 2025

Acceptance Date

July 28, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 6 Number: 2

APA
Kaya, A., & Özok, H. İ. (2025). Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach. International Journal of Educational Studies and Policy, 6(2), 310-328. https://doi.org/10.63612/ijesp.1694359
AMA
1.Kaya A, Özok Hİ. Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach. IJESP. 2025;6(2):310-328. doi:10.63612/ijesp.1694359
Chicago
Kaya, Alican, and Halil İbrahim Özok. 2025. “Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach”. International Journal of Educational Studies and Policy 6 (2): 310-28. https://doi.org/10.63612/ijesp.1694359.
EndNote
Kaya A, Özok Hİ (November 1, 2025) Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach. International Journal of Educational Studies and Policy 6 2 310–328.
IEEE
[1]A. Kaya and H. İ. Özok, “Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach”, IJESP, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 310–328, Nov. 2025, doi: 10.63612/ijesp.1694359.
ISNAD
Kaya, Alican - Özok, Halil İbrahim. “Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach”. International Journal of Educational Studies and Policy 6/2 (November 1, 2025): 310-328. https://doi.org/10.63612/ijesp.1694359.
JAMA
1.Kaya A, Özok Hİ. Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach. IJESP. 2025;6:310–328.
MLA
Kaya, Alican, and Halil İbrahim Özok. “Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach”. International Journal of Educational Studies and Policy, vol. 6, no. 2, Nov. 2025, pp. 310-28, doi:10.63612/ijesp.1694359.
Vancouver
1.Alican Kaya, Halil İbrahim Özok. Social Media Addiction, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Esteem, and Mindfulness: A Person-Centered Approach. IJESP. 2025 Nov. 1;6(2):310-28. doi:10.63612/ijesp.1694359

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