Academic Stress, Family Relationships, and Social Media Use Disorder Among Turkish Middle School Students: Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND

Social media use disorder (SMUD) has become an important concern in adolescent digital health. Although prior research has linked problematic social media use to psychological and family-related factors, less is known about how academic stress and different patterns of family relationships are associated with SMUD among middle school students.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the associations among academic stress, restrictive and supportive family relationships, and SMUD among Turkish middle school students. It also explored how students described the role of family relationships and academic pressure in their social media use.

METHODS

An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used. The quantitative phase included 311 middle school students aged 11-14 years. Participants completed paper-and-pencil measures of academic stress, family relationships, and SMUD. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized indirect pathways, and indirect effects were examined with 5000 bootstrap samples. The qualitative phase included a focus group with 10 students selected from the quantitative sample. Thematic analysis was used to contextualize and refine the quantitative findings.

RESULTS

Academic stress was positively associated with restrictive family relationships (β=.679; P<.001) and SMUD (β=.234; P=.03). Restrictive family relationships were also positively associated with SMUD (β=.549; P=.006). The indirect pathway from academic stress to SMUD through restrictive family relationships was statistically significant (β=.373, 95% CI 0.140-0.617; P=.004). In contrast, the indirect pathway through supportive family relationships was not significant (β=-.056, 95% CI -0.279 to 0.159; P=.59). The model explained 42.6% of the variance in SMUD. Qualitative findings showed that students described social media as a source of entertainment, connection, academic support, and stress relief. Some students linked parental restriction and criticism to their social media experiences, while others reported reducing social media use during examination periods to focus on schoolwork.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that academic stress and restrictive family relationships are associated with SMUD among middle school students. The qualitative results add nuance by showing that academic pressure may be linked both to stress-related social media use and, for some students, short-term self-regulation during examinations. These findings support the need for adolescent digital health approaches that consider school pressure, family communication, and balanced parental guidance rather than focusing only on individual screen use.