Meta-analysis of associations between five-factor traits and social media addiction

Abstract

This meta-analysis quantified the relationship between the Five-Factor Model of personality and social media addiction and aimed to identify moderators of this relationship. The analysis included 32 studies, 34 independent samples with 195 effect sizes, and a total of 19,668 participants. The meta-analysis found that high neuroticism (r = .19, p < .001) and low conscientiousness (r = -.13, p < .001) were significantly associated with social media addiction. Low agreeableness (r = -.05, p = .03) and low openness (r = -.06, p = .02) were also significantly associated with social media addiction, while extraversion had no significant association. Several significant moderator effects were found for age and sex, with males and older individuals generally showing stronger associations between certain traits and social media addiction. This meta-analysis contributes to our understanding of the relationship between individual characteristics and social media addiction and provided information that might be useful in preventing and treating this addictive behaviour.