Association between general self-efficacy and social media addiction among young adult nursing students in Indonesia: a cross-sectional study

PURPOSE: This study examined the association between general self-efficacy and social media addiction among young adult undergraduate nursing students in Indonesia.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 120 Indonesian undergraduate nursing students aged 21-23 years. Social media addiction and self-efficacy were assessed using the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale and the General Self-Efficacy Scale, respectively. Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple linear regression.

RESULTS: The mean social media addiction score was 19.11 (standard deviation=2.11), and the mean self-efficacy score was 24.60 (standard deviation=4.20). Self-efficacy showed a weak but statistically significant negative correlation with social media addiction (r=-.21, p=.022). Sociodemographic predictors entered in Step 1 of the hierarchical regression analysis explained 7.3% of the variance in social media addiction (R2=.073). Sex was a significant predictor (β=-0.19, p=.038), with male students reporting lower scores than female reference group. The final model explained 10.8% of the variance in social media addiction (R2=.108; F(5, 114)=2.77, p=.021).

CONCLUSION: Higher self-efficacy was weakly associated with lower social media addiction. Given the limited variance explained and the omission of other well-established correlates of social media addiction, these findings do not support general self-efficacy as a standalone protective mechanism.