Social media use and personality disorders

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between personality disorders and social media use. Methods: Five hundred and ten university students participated in the study. Personality Belief Questionnaire-Short form was used to assess DSM-based personality disorder symptoms and Social Media Disorder Scale was used to determine addictive use of social media. In addition, daily usage of social media, frequency of taking and sharing selfies were examined using a questionnaire created by the authors. Results: Participants with high levels of Social Media Disorder demonstrated higher levels of avoidant, dependent, antisocial, histrionic, paranoid and borderline personality features compared to those with low levels of social media disorder. Results of multivariate analyses showed that addictive use of social media, daily duration of social media use and frequency of selfie sharing were positively predicted by histrionic personality features and female gender. Furthermore, selfie taking was predicted only by narcissistic personality features. Conclusion: This study indicates that histrionic personality features may be risk factors for addictive use of social media. [Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg 2020; 21(3.000): 253-260]