Citation

Hajek A, Kretzler B, König HH. Psychiatry Int. (Basel) 2022; 3(4): 313-319.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publications Institute)

DOI

10.3390/psychiatryint3040025

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Individuals with an excessive use of social media may be frequently exposed to stimuli, such as (fake) news or images of violence, which might lead to a higher fear of war. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the association between a social media addiction and fear of war (conventional war and nuclear war) in Germany. Data were taken from a nationally representative survey with n = 3091 participants (18 to 74 years; data collection in mid-March 2022). Social media addiction was quantified using the validated Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale. Moreover, established items were used to quantify a fear of war. Medium differences (in terms of Cohen's d) were identified regarding the fear of war between individuals without a social media addiction and individuals with a social media addiction. Adjusting for several covariates, the regressions revealed that individuals with a social media addiction had a higher fear of war compared to individuals without a social media addiction (fear of a conventional war: β = 0.44, p < 0.01; fear of a nuclear war: β = 0.61, p < 0.001). In conclusion, our study demonstrated an association between a social media addiction and fear of war.

Language: en

Keywords

addiction; fear of war; mass media; nuclear war; social media; social network; social web; war