Pay Attention to What Your Fingers Scroll: The Roles of Doomscrolling and Psychological Adjustment Between Adolescents’ Problematic Social Media Use and Psychological Distress

Although we know that problematic social media use is related to psychological distress, the role of doomscrolling and psychological adjustment in this relationship are scarcely addressed. The objective of the current study was to explore the relationships between problematic social media use and psychological distress with a serial mediation analysis that included doomscrolling and psychological adjustment. The participants consisted of 398 adolescents whose ages ranged between 14 and 18 years (Mage= 16.76, SD = 1.01). The data were collected using the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, Doomscrolling Scale, Brief Psychological Adjustment Scale-6, and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21. Analyses revealed both doomscrolling and psychological adjustment mediated the relationship between problematic social media use and psychological distress. In addition, doomscrolling and psychological adjustment had the serial mediating role between problematic social media use and psychological distress. These findings contribute to elucidating the mechanisms between problematic social media use and psychological distress. In conclusion, problematic social media use leads to psychological distress through doomscrolling and poor psychological adjustment.