Less sense of control, more anxiety, and addictive social media use: Cohort trends in German university freshmen between 2019 and 2021

The COVID-19 outbreak brought many challenges for everyday life that could affect mental health. The present study investigated cohort trends of sense of control, anxiety symptoms and (addictive) social media use (SMU) in German university freshmen between 2019 (before the pandemic outbreak) and 2021 (after the pandemic outbreak). Data of overall 1,378 freshmen (three cohorts: 2019: N = 407, 2020: N = 563, 2021: N = 408) were collected by online surveys. The comparison of the three cohorts revealed a significant decrease of sense of control from 2019 to 2021 (effect size: Cohen's d = 0.29 to 0.36). In contrast, anxiety symptoms (d = 0.25 to 0.28), time spent daily on SMU (d = 0.18 to 0.36), and addictive SMU (d = 0.26 to 0.31) increased. In all cohorts, we found the same result patterns. Anxiety symptoms and the SMU variables were significantly positively correlated (r = 0.171 to 0.469, p < .001). Sense of control was significantly negatively correlated with the other assessed variables (r = -0.112 to -0.279, p < .05 and p < .001). Moreover, anxiety symptoms mediated the relationship between sense of control and addictive SMU. Thus, the COVID-19 outbreak and its consequences for daily life could affect the sense of control, anxiety symptoms and addictive SMU of freshmen in Germany. Potential ways how to protect young people against these potential negative effects are discussed.