Social media addiction and its relationship to aggressive behavior among high school students in Riyadh
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Abstract
Background/purpose: Addiction and violence are learnt reactions reinforced by environmental stimuli, making this relationship relevant to examine in Saudi female adolescents. This study examines the association between social media addiction and aggressive conduct in Riyadh’s 16–17-year-old female high school students and if socioeconomic position affects addiction.
Materials/methods: A descriptive–correlational design was utilized for the research project, which included 170 female high school students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who were between the ages of 16 and 17 and were recruited by a systematic random sample process. In this study, we utilized two validated instruments, namely the Social Media Addiction Scale and the Aggressive Behavior Scale. Both of these instruments shown a high level of reliability, with a coefficient of α equal to.892 and.817 respectively.
Results: Upon doing an examination of the data, it was discovered that the distribution of scores for both scales satisfied the standards of normalcy, A statistically significant positive association was observed between addiction to social media and aggressive conduct (r =.281, p <.01). This suggests that higher levels of addiction to social media are connected with increased aggression. The physical aspect of addiction to social media was found to have the most significant correlation with aggressive conduct (r =.468, p <.01). On the other hand, the psychological and social aspects of addiction did not exhibit any significant link with aggressive behavior. Furthermore, the research revealed that there were no significant differences in the levels of addiction to social media across different socioeconomic categories. This finding lends credence to the notion that excessive usage of social media is a condition that is prevalent across a variety of social strata.
Conclusion: The study concludes that social media addiction is a significant predictor of aggressive behavior among female adolescents, emphasizing that excessive digital engagement reinforces learned patterns of aggression. These findings highlight the need for preventive educational programs promoting balanced and responsible social media use.
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