COMPULSIVE SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND ANXIETY SYMPTOMS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SLEEP QUALITY

Abstract

Background: Compulsive social media use has been consistently linked to elevated anxiety symptoms in young adult populations, yet the psychological and behavioral mechanisms underlying this association remain incompletely characterized.

Objective: Drawing on the displacement hypothesis and complementary arousal-based accounts, this study tested whether subjective sleep quality mediates the relationship between compulsive social media engagement and anxiety symptom severity in a college student sample.

Methods: Undergraduate students from Kasur District, Punjab, Pakistan (N = 401; 58.9% female; M age = 19.87 years) completed an online survey comprising the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). Mediation was tested using PROCESS Model 4 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples.

Results: Compulsive social media use correlated positively with sleep disturbance (r = .41) and anxiety (r = .38); poorer sleep quality correlated with greater anxiety (r = .47; all ps < .001). Sleep quality significantly mediated the effect of compulsive social media use on anxiety (indirect effect = 0.15, 95% BCa CI [0.07, 0.22]), accounting for approximately 41% of the total effect. A significant direct effect persisted (0.20, 95% CI [0.10, 0.31]), indicating partial mediation. Women reported significantly higher anxiety than men (d = 0.36, p < .001).

Conclusions: Sleep disruption constitutes a meaningful pathway linking compulsive social media engagement to anxiety symptoms in college students. Findings underscore sleep hygiene as a tractable, low-cost intervention target on campuses and highlight the need for longitudinal research to establish temporal precedence.