Problematic social media use in childhood and adolescence.

At the time of writing, about 4.59 billion people use social media with many adolescents using their social media accounts across a myriad of applications and platforms. According to recent statistics, in 2022 individuals spent an average of 151 minutes on social media each day, illustrating the global relevance of social media (Dixon, 2022a,b). One of the pressing questions, internationally, is whether social media use is harmful and/or addictive. This question is of particular importance because many teenagers - and younger adolescents - spend considerable time on these platforms, which have increasingly become an integral part of their lives. Moreover, considering lifespan development, adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to specific features and advertisements shown to them on social media platforms. Growing prevalence of poor mental health in young people has led to recent recommendations in the United States to routinely screen for anxiety in 8-18 year olds, and for depression and suicide risk for adolescents between 12-18 years of age (US Preventive Services Task Force et al., 2022 a,b) - the conditions often accompanying problematic social media use. The present work not only provides insights into the current state of the literature but provides also recommendations.

The desire thinking questionnaire-Persian version (DTQ-P) and its association with addictive behaviors in individuals with alcohol use disorder, nicotine dependence, and problematic social media use.

Desire thinking is an emerging construct which has been shown to play a role in addictive behaviors. The present study sought to validate a translated Persian version of the Desire Thinking Questionnaire (DTQ) in three groups of individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD; n = 300), nicotine dependence (n = 300), and problematic social media use (n = 300). All three groups completed the translated Persian version of the DTQ, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-15 (BIS-15), the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI), and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Measures of alcohol use, nicotine dependence and problematic social media use were also collected. The results confirmed a two-factor structure of the Persian version of the DTQ with good reliability and validity in all three groups. Furthermore, both the verbal perseveration and imaginal prefiguration components of the Persian version of the DTQ were found to predict addictive behaviors beyond demographic and clinical characteristics, negative affect, impulsiveness, and thought suppression. The study confirms the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the DTQ and the role of desire thinking as an independent predictor of AUD, nicotine dependence, and the problematic use of social media.