Unravelling the Association Between Trait Mindfulness and Problematic Social Media Use in Youth

Elisa Galli, Marta Sannino, Zidane Dridi and Marco Giancola ()
Additional contact information
Elisa Galli: Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University G. D’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Marta Sannino: Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
Zidane Dridi: Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
Marco Giancola: Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 10, 1-11

Abstract: The compulsive and unregulated use of social media, also known as problematic social media use (PSMU), has raised increasing concerns about its detrimental impact on psychological well-being and daily functioning among young individuals. Understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying this behavioural pattern is essential, with personality traits emerging as a particularly relevant area of investigation. While some personality traits, such as narcissism, have received substantial attention, others remain overlooked. Through a cross-sectional design, this study examined how trait mindfulness, as captured in terms of awareness and acceptance, predicts PSMU while accounting for sociodemographics (age, sex, and education) and both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. A total of 180 participants (mean age = 22.16 years; SD age = 2.47 years; 95 females) completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-13, the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale, and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale. Regression analyses indicated that only the acceptance of trait mindfulness significantly predicted PSMU. These findings suggest that cultivating a non-judgmental and open stance towards internal experiences may protect against PSMU through affect regulation and emotional acceptance.

Keywords: addiction; technology; mindfulness; personality; regression; social media; youth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/10/1479/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/10/1479/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:10:p:1479-:d:1757771

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().