Introduction: In the digital age, social media platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and TikTok have become integral to the daily lives of university students, offering avenues for communication, entertainment, and information exchange. While these platforms provide numerous benefits, their excessive and often compulsive use has raised serious concerns regarding students’ mental health and academic functioning. Social media addiction (SMA)-defined by uncontrollable and excessive engagement with digital platforms-has been linked to psychological disturbances including depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. These mental health challenges may, in turn, impair students’ academic engagement, a multidimensional construct encompassing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral involvement in learning activities. Academic engagement is widely recognized as a key predictor of academic success, persistence, and psychological well-being. Students who are actively engaged in their studies tend to demonstrate greater motivation, concentration, and resilience. However, emerging evidence suggests that SMA disrupts these patterns, leading to reduced study time, increased procrastination, and diminished academic focus. The present study investigates the direct and indirect effects of SMA on academic engagement, with particular emphasis on the mediating roles of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. By elucidating the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship, the study aims to inform targeted interventions that enhance both academic performance and mental health among university students.
Methods: This applied research utilized a descriptive-correlational design to examine the relationships among SMA, mental health variables, and academic engagement. The statistical population comprised undergraduate students enrolled at the Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, during the 2024-2025 academic year. A sample of 150 students was selected through simple random sampling to ensure representativeness. Data were collected using five standardized self-report instruments: the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) to assess the severity of SMA; the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) to measure symptoms of depression and anxiety, respectively; Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) to evaluate global self-worth; and the Academic Engagement Scale (AES) to assess students’ involvement in academic activities. All instruments demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity in prior Iranian and international studies. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was employed to examine bivariate relationships among the variables. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the mediating effects of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem in the relationship between SMA and academic engagement. The analysis followed Baron and Kenny’s mediation framework, allowing for the identification of both direct and indirect pathways.
Results: The results revealed a significant negative correlation between SMA and academic engagement (r = -0.47, p < 0.01), indicating that higher levels of addiction were associated with lower levels of academic involvement. SMA was positively correlated with depression (r = 0.52, p < 0.01) and anxiety (r = 0.49, p < 0.01), and negatively correlated with self-esteem (r = -0.44, p < 0.01). These findings suggest that excessive social media use is linked to increased psychological distress and diminished self-worth. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that depression, anxiety, and self-esteem each served as partial mediators in the relationship between SMA and academic engagement. Among these, depression emerged as the strongest mediator, accounting for a substantial proportion of the variance in academic engagement. Specifically, when depression was entered into the regression model, the direct effect of SMA on academic engagement was significantly reduced, indicating a robust indirect pathway. Anxiety and self-esteem also contributed to the mediation effect, albeit to a lesser extent.
Discussion: The findings of this study underscore the detrimental impact of SMA on students’ academic engagement, both directly and through its influence on mental health variables. The mediating role of depression suggests that excessive social media use may lead to emotional exhaustion, hopelessness, and reduced motivation, all of which undermine students’ ability to engage meaningfully with academic tasks. Similarly, heightened anxiety may impair concentration and increase avoidance behaviors, while low self-esteem may erode students’ confidence in their academic abilities and reduce their willingness to participate in learning activities. These results are consistent with previous research indicating that SMA is associated with psychological distress and academic underperformance. For instance, Landa-Blanco et al. (2024) found that SMA indirectly reduced academic engagement through increased depression and reduced self-esteem. Oztekin (2024) similarly highlighted the mediating role of psychological distress in the relationship between internet addiction and academic disengagement. The present study extends these findings by demonstrating the simultaneous mediating effects of multiple mental health variables within an Iranian university context. In conclusion, this study provides compelling evidence that SMA adversely affects academic engagement through its impact on depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. By identifying these mediating mechanisms, the research offers a nuanced understanding of how digital behaviors intersect with psychological functioning and academic performance. These insights can inform the design of holistic interventions that support students’ mental health and academic success in an increasingly digital world.