The Mediating Role of Social Media Disorder in the Relationship of Experiential Avoidance with Psychological Symptoms

Experiential avoidance (EA) is an important process and risk factor in behavioral disorders. This study aims to examine the mediating effect of social media disorder on the relationship of EA with negative psychological symptoms (depression, anxiety, and stress). The study group consists of a total of 333 undergraduate students, 86 males (25.8%) and 247 females (74.2%). Mediation has been tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrapping. Significant zero-order correlations have been found among the involved variables, as well as mediating effects from distress aversion (beta = .09, p < .001, 95% CI = .10 .06), repression/denial (beta = .07, p < .001, 95% CI = .08 .05), and behavioral avoidance (beta = -.05, p < .05, 95% CI = -.06 .05) to indirectly predict psychological symptoms through partial mediation of social media disorder scores, as presumed. The results have the potential to contribute to a better understanding of FA on maladaptive social media use.