The Relationship Between Happiness and Social Media Addiction: Coping with Perceived Stress as a Mediator

Objective: In the age of information and technology, social media platforms are popularly used to connect with others virtually. With this increasing participation in the digital world, social networking sites have become an increasingly popular activity, especially among adults. Share social media platforms with people, message, conversation, picture, video, etc. widely used to share. Although social media tools are used in many areas of daily life, their excessive use negatively affects mental health. This study aimed to reveal the mediating effect of adult individuals' stress coping strategies between happiness and social media addiction. Methods: The study group participated in the study voluntarily. We obtained a consent form from these participants stating that they voluntarily participated in the study. They left the study whenever they wanted while filling out the forms. Filling out the forms took about 25 minutes. The study’s sample group consists of 924 adult individuals aged between 18 and 68 living in Erzurum. Depression-Happiness Scale Short Form, Perceived Stress Scale, and Social Media Addiction Scale were used in the study. We used SPSS-22 and AMOS-21 programs for data analysis. Results: The results show that there are low levels of negative associations between happiness and coping strategies and social media addiction. In addition, the results reveal that strategies for coping with stress mediate the relationship between happiness and social media addiction. Conclusion: Based on the findings, coping with stress can effectively reduce individuals' social media addiction. Studies are needed to help prevent problematic social media use and help users better control the time they spend on social media. There is a greater need for awareness programs to raise awareness among adults about responsible use of social media. Personality variables such as happiness and coping with stress should be taken into account, especially by mental health professionals, during the design and implementation of these programs. In addition, apart from this study, which deals with the effects of happiness and coping with stress on problematic social media use, other different studies should conduct more in-depth research to reveal the effects of personal and social characteristics in more detail.