The Mediating Role of Self-Regulation in the Relationship Between Social Media Addiction and Loneliness
The rapid expansion of digital technologies and social networks has significantly influenced students’ cognitive processes and social interactions. Although social networks facilitate communication, learning, and information sharing, excessive use may contribute to increased loneliness and diminished self-control. This study examined the mediating role of self-regulation in the relationship between social media addiction and loneliness among Afghan students. A quantitative, correlational design was employed, involving 181 randomly selected students from the Faculty of Special Education. Data were collected using the Shahin Social Media Addiction Questionnaire, the UCLA Loneliness Scale by Daniel Russell, and the Bofard Self-Regulation
Questionnaire. Analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 27 and the PROCESS Macro plugin. Descriptive statistics, Spearman’s correlation, regression, and mediation analysis (Model 4 of PROCESS with the bootstrap method) were utilized. Findings indicated that social media addiction was associated with higher levels of loneliness (β = 0.285, p < 0.001) and lower self-regulation (β = -0.314, p < 0.001). Additionally, self-regulation was negatively associated with loneliness (β = -0.278, p < 0.001). Mediation analysis revealed that self-regulation partially mediated the relationship between social media addiction and loneliness (Effect = 0.049, BootCI [0.018, 0.088]). These results suggest that interventions aimed at enhancing self-regulation skills may mitigate the adverse effects of excessive social media use and reduce loneliness among students.