Social Media Use Intensity and Common Mental Health Outcomes Among Chinese University Students: The Mediating Role of Self‐Discrepancy

We tested the association between social media use intensity and Chinese university students’ common mental health outcomes, including depressive symptoms, generalized anxiety symptoms, and sleep quality. We also examined whether this association was moderated by the school type (double first‐class university and non–double first‐class university) and partially explained by ideal‐own and ought‐own self‐discrepancies. A convenience sample of 569 Chinese university students (mean age = 20.63 years, 40.07% men, and 66.26% from non–double first‐class universities) was recruited. The structural equation modeling was used. We found that school type significantly moderated the association between social media use intensity and both depressive symptoms and sleep quality, with a marginal effect on generalized anxiety symptoms ( p = 0.052). Specifically, high social media use intensity was associated with more depressive symptoms and more generalized anxiety symptoms, as well as poorer sleep quality among students from double first‐class universities. These associations were statistically nonsignificant among students from non–double first‐class universities. We also found that self‐discrepancy partially explained the association between social media use intensity and these common mental health outcomes among students from double first‐class universities. These findings indicate that associations between social media use intensity and common mental health outcomes differ across school types in China, and self‐discrepancies can partially explain these associations among students from double first‐class universities.