Social Media Addiction and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents: The Mediating Roles of Anxiety and Emotional Eating.

BACKGROUND: Addictive social media use (ASMU) has increased among adolescents; however, evidence regarding the role of anxiety and emotional eating (EmE) in its association with depressive symptoms remains limited, particularly in Latin American contexts. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the direct and indirect associations between ASMU and depressive symptoms, assessing the mediating role of anxiety and EmE. METHODS: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in 880 adolescents aged 11 to 18 years from public and private educational institutions in East Lima, Peru. ASMU, anxiety (GAD-2), EmE, and depressive symptoms (PHQ-2) were assessed. In addition to descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations, an observed-variable path analysis using composite scores with bias-corrected bootstrapping (5000 resamples) was estimated to quantify direct, indirect, and total associations. RESULTS: The path model showed good fit to the data (CFI = 0.978; TLI = 0.968; RMSEA = 0.054, 90% CI = 0.043-0.065; SRMR = 0.046) and explained 45.7% of the variance in depressive symptoms. ASMU was positively associated with anxiety (β = 0.374, p < 0.001), EmE (β = 0.340, p < 0.001), and directly with depressive symptoms (β = 0.120, p = 0.003). Significant indirect associations were also observed through anxiety (β = 0.199, p < 0.001), EmE (β = 0.079, p < 0.001), and the sequential indirect pathway involving anxiety and EmE (β = 0.033, p < 0.001). The total association between ASMU and depressive symptoms was significant (β = 0.431, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The findings are consistent with a pattern of partial mediation, in which ASMU is associated with higher depressive symptoms both directly and through indirect pathways linked to anxiety and EmE.