Social media use and mental well-being among college students: A cross-sectional survey

Objective This study examined associations between social media use patterns and mental well-being among college students. Methods A cross-sectional online survey included college students in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (n = 374; mean age = 21.31 years, SD = 2.47). Social media addiction risk was assessed using the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), with a cut-off score of ≥19. Mental health measures included depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), insomnia (ISI), perceived stress (PSS), self-esteem (RSES), life satisfaction (K-SWLS), and suicidal ideation (BSI). Multivariable logistic regression used four models incorporating psychological variables as categorical or continuous measures, with and without sex adjustment. Results Overall, 29.1% were classified as at risk of social media addiction. Daily social media time was the factor most consistently associated with addiction risk, with significantly increased odds across all models (OR range: 4.43–5.04). Anxiety, perceived stress, and insomnia were also significantly associated with higher addiction risk. Moderate depressive symptoms were associated with increased risk in categorical but not continuous models, a pattern consistent with a non-linear association. Suicidal ideation showed no crude association and became inversely associated only after mutual adjustment for correlated psychological variables, which sensitivity analyses indicated was attributable to suppression effects rather than a protective association. Conclusion Excessive social media use is consistently associated with addiction risk and is related to multiple dimensions of mental health. These findings support addressing behavioral and psychological factors in interventions aimed at promoting healthy social media use among college students.