Sex Differences in Social Media Addiction: The Mediating Effects of Social Media Use Motives.

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to examine whether social media use motives mediate sex differences in social media addiction.

Methods: Three hundred adults (50.0% women; mean age = 39.28 years, standard deviation = 10.91) in South Korea completed the Social Network Site Use Motives Scale-Revised and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale.

Results: Sex differences were found in social media addiction; that is, women reported higher levels of social media addiction than men. In addition, coping motives partially explained the sex differences in social media addiction. Although indirect effects were also observed for enhancement and pastime motives, the effects were not statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that women are more vulnerable to social media addiction than men, due in part to a difference in coping motives. Thus, interventions targeting coping motives may effectively reduce the risk of social media addiction among Korean adult women.