Rumination and Social Media Addiction Relationship: The Role of Loneliness and Happiness

Ruminative thoughts push the person to question the negative experiences that constantly happen to them, causing the current situation to be perceived even more negatively than it already exists. Young people are less developed in their cognitive abilities than adults. In order to escape from these thoughts, they prefer to use social media applications that they can easily access and relax. In this study, the mediating role of subjective happiness and loneliness in the relationship between rumination and addictive social media use was examined. The study sample consisted of 588 preparatory classes and first-year students studying at universities in Turkey. According to structural equation analysis, subjective happiness and loneliness levels play a statistically significant role in the correlation between rumination and social media addiction. Findings explain the relationship between rumination and social media addiction and emphasize the importance of increasing subjective happiness and reducing loneliness in order to reduce the negative reflections of this process. Considering these students are important for the future of the country, examining this relationship will provide important contributions to society. Future researchers may consider the relationship between rumination and social media within the scope of different variables and investigate this relationship longitudinally.