The mediating role of anxiety symptoms in the link between chronic illness and problematic social media use in young adults: A cross-sectional study (Preprint)

Abstract

Social media is a locus of information, self-expression, and support for people with chronic illness, such as chronic migraines or irritable bowel disease. However, people managing chronic illness may also be uniquely at risk for the problematic use of social media. This may be especially true for people with chronic illnesses that are commonly comorbid with anxiety, including gastrointestinal and neurological chronic illnesses.

The objectives of the present study were to determine whether young adults with diagnosed gastrointestinal or neurological chronic illness were more at risk for problematic social media use, and whether symptoms of anxiety mediated this relationship.

We administered a cross-sectional online survey using the platform Qualtrics to young adults between the ages of 18-25. Participants completed measures assessing gastrointestinal and neurological illness, anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment – 7), and problematic social media use (Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale). We tested two mediation models using model 4 of the PROCESS Macro in SPSS.

Participants (n = 4,939) were 50.6% female (n = 2,496), 58.1% white (n = 2,871), and had a mean age of 21.74 (SD = 2.3). Seven point four percent and 11.3% of participants endorsed gastrointestinal or neurological illness, respectively. For the problematic use of social media, 17.9% of participants earned a score at or above the cutoff of 19 (M = 13.34, SD = 5.72). Reporting gastrointestinal or neurological illness was positively associated with increased problematic social media use (PSMU), B = 1.62, SE B = .07, t(1, 4938) = 5.20, p < .001 and B = 1.82, SE B = .10, t(1, 4938) = 7.08, p < .001, respectively. This indirect effect from gastrointestinal illness to PSMU, through anxiety, was significant, B = .87, SE B = .13, CI [.621, 1.12], as was the indirect effect from neurological illness to PSMU through anxiety, B = 1.47, SE B = .12, CI [1.24, 1.70].

People for whom chronic illness symptoms co-occur with symptoms of anxiety may be especially at risk for developing problematic social media use. Given that online support has been useful to those managing chronic conditions, it may not be helpful or feasible for researchers to discourage social media use in general. Instead, people with chronic illness will benefit from evidence-based best practices around healthy social media use, and can be empowered with knowledge about how to identify and reverse problematic social media use.