Social media use motives as mediators of distress intolerance and social media addiction among college students

Abstract

Background: Social media addiction is increasingly prevalent among college students, with distress intolerance identified as a key risk factor. This study investigated whether specific social media use motives mediate this relationship. Methods: A total of 298 Korean college students who regularly use social media completed measures of distress intolerance, social media addiction, and social media use motives. A parallel multiple mediation analysis was conducted using PROCESS Model 4. Results: Higher distress intolerance was associated with greater social media addiction (point estimate = 0.43, 95% CI [0.33, 0.53]). In addition, coping motives (point estimate = 0.11, 95% CI [0.06, 0.16]), pastime motives (point estimate = 0.04, 95% CI [0.01, 0.07]), concealment motives (point estimate = 0.04, 95% CI [0.01, 0.08]), and enhancement motives (point estimate = 0.03, 95% CI [0.00, 0.07]) significantly mediated this association. Conclusion: The findings underscore the role of social media use motives in the link between distress intolerance and social media addiction. These insights may inform preventive and therapeutic efforts, such as promoting digital literacy among policymakers, integrating psychoeducation on adaptive coping strategies into university programs, and guiding counseling centers in designing tailored interventions for at-risk students.