ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Media Psychology
Effects of Social Media Use on Depressive Symptoms among University Students in Guangdong Province: The Mediating Roles of Self-Esteem and Social Support
Li Ma
Yujia Li
School of Humanities and Social Science, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan, China
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Abstract
Social media use is pervasive among university students and young adults; however, its psychological implications remain debated. This study examined whether self-esteem and perceived social support mediated the association between social media use and depressive tendency. A cluster sample of 635 Chinese undergraduates from universities in Guangdong Province was recruited, yielding 600 valid responses (97.7%). Participants completed standardized scales including the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. Structural equation modeling with 5,000 bootstrap resamples tested direct and indirect effects. Social media use was positively associated with depressive symptoms and negatively with self-esteem and social support. Both self-esteem and social support mediated this relationship, with stronger effects for self-esteem.Higher levels of social media use were associated with higher depressive symptoms, both directly and indirectly through reduced self-esteem and perceived social support, with self-esteem playing a stronger mediating role.
Summary
Keywords
Depressive tendencies, self-esteem, social media use, social support, university students
Received
18 December 2025
Accepted
16 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Ma and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Li Ma
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