(PS3-80) Adverse Childhood Experiences and Risk for Problematic Social Media Use in College Students

Abstract Text: Recent advisories from the US Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association have highlighted the urgency of evaluating social media’s influence on children and adolescents’ well-being. In determining risk, research has expanded beyond hours of social media use to focus on problematic engagement with social media (i.e., dysregulated or problematic social media use). Consistent with other research on behavioral addictions, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may be linked to increased risk of problematic social media use (PSMU) (Domoff et al., 2021). Although predictors of PSMU have been explored in younger adolescents, we are limited in our understanding of college students’ experiences with PSMU. This is especially important considering that the transition from high school to college is a particularly salient time for intervention, given adolescents’ increased autonomy in regulating their own screen time. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between ACEs and PSMU and potential moderators of this link (e.g., online social support) in college students. We hypothesized that consistent with prior research, higher ACEs would be positively associated with higher PSMU use and higher online social support will be associated with lower levels of PSMU.
In a current sample of 442 undergraduate students from a university in the Northeast US, participants completed an online survey evaluating social media use and well-being. The majority of the participants identified as female (61.3%) and heterosexual (80%); regarding race/ethnicity, the sample was diverse, with 34% White, 35% Black or African American, 11% Asian, and 22% Hispanic or Latino. The majority or participants were 18 and 19 years old.

ACEs were measured using the Philadelphia Urban ACE Survey (Cronholm et al. 2015), PSMU was measured using the Social Media Disorder Scale (Van den Eijnden et al., 2016), and online social support was measured using the Online Social Support Scale (Nick et al. 2018). Spearman correlations were conducted to examine the associations among the variables. Although data collection is ongoing, preliminary analyses show that ACEs significantly correlate with PSMU use (r = .19, p < .001). Contrary to expectations, greater online social support was positively correlated with PSMU, although to a smaller degree (r = .10 p < .05).

College students with a history of ACEs may be experiencing trouble regulating their social media use, necessitating interventions aimed at reducing risk and fostering healthy use. The surprising relationship between online social support and PSMU revealed in this study requires further research to inform prevention interventions.