Abstract

Background/purpose – The use of social media has become commonplace among adolescents. However, excessive use of social media causes addiction in some cases. In this context, it is considered important to investigate the factors related to social media addiction. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships among childhood experiences, happiness, and social media addiction in adolescents.

Materials/methods – In the study, correlations between childhood experiences, happiness, and social media addiction among adolescents were tested with the structural equation model. The research involved 314 adolescents, and the Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS), The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire Short Form (OHQ-SF), and the Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ) were used as data collection tools. SPSS 21 and AMOS programs were used for data analysis.

Results – The results of the path analysis indicated that negative childhood experiences negatively and directly affect happiness, whilst happiness negatively and directly affects social media addictions, negative childhood experiences positively and indirectly affect social media addictions, negative childhood experiences negatively affects happiness, and unhappiness positively affects social media addiction.

Conclusion – The current study's results have shown that negative perceived childhood experiences can negatively affect individuals emotionally and behaviorally during adolescence.

Keywords: Childhood experiences, happiness, social media addiction, adolescent.

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