Trait Mindfulness as a Protective Factor in Connections between Psychological Issues and Facebook Addiction among Turkish University Students

Abstract

Facebook addiction is a growing issue that has increasingly attracted the attention of clinicians and researchers in a variety of countries and cultures. Relying on the Cognitive-Behavioral Model for Pathological Internet Use, and in a sample of Turkish undergraduates, we investigate whether mindfulness might account for how self-esteem and psychological problems (depression, anxiety, and stress) connect to Facebook addiction. A total of 298 college students completed measures of Facebook addiction, self-esteem, mindfulness and psychological problems, which we analyzed using path analysis, testing various models of how Facebook addiction might be predicted by these factors. We found that Facebook addiction was positively associated with psychological problems and negatively associated with self-esteem and mindfulness, with mindfulness fully accounting for the association between psychological problems, self-esteem and Facebook addiction. These results support the role of mindfulness in the prevention of Facebook addiction and the treatment of addicted individuals. This study also helps clarify previous research connecting mindfulness to Internet addiction, and extends those findings cross-culturally to a Turkish context.