Social Media Addiction and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Symptoms in in Bangkok High School Students

Abstract

Objective : To assess the prevalence and related factors of social media addiction, and
association between social media addiction and attention deficit/ hyperactivity symptoms in
high school students in Bangkok
Method : A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. Data were collected from
parents and students in high schools in Bangkok. The sample size was 601 subjects. Total
428 questionnaires were sent back. The study was conducted between January and March
2016. The questionnaire consisted of three sections. First section included questions involving
demographic data and patterns of social media use. Second section is social media addiction
test (SMAT). Third section is Thai version of SNAP-IV rating scale, parent version.
Results : Prevalence of social media addiction in high school students in Bangkok was
17.6 percent. From data analysis, social media addiction was associated with attention
deficit/hyperactivity symptoms. In multinomial logistic regression analysis, not having attention
deficit/hyperactivity symptoms decreased the chance of social media addiction but found no
statistical significance. In addition, statistically significant factors that can decrease the chance
of social media addiction are amount of time that spent on social media less than 4 hours
per day, not using Instagram, and not using social media for sharing messages/pictures and
relieving stress.
Conclusions : Prevalence of social media addiction in high school students in Bangkok
was 17.6 percent. This is the first study examining the association between social media
addiction and attention deficit/hyperactivity symptoms in Thailand, found that social media
addiction was associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity symptoms. Not having attention
deficit/hyperactivity symptoms decreased the chance of social media addiction but found
no statistical significance. However, we found many factors that can decrease the chance of
social media addiction. These data are important and can use for establishing guidelines to
control social media use, especially in adolescents, who are vulnerable to developing social
media addiction.