Online social networking addiction among college students in Singapore: Comorbidity with behavioral addiction and affective disorder

- This study showed that 29.5% of the surveyed college students in Singapore were addicted to online social networking sites/platforms (SNS).
- SNS addiction was also found to comorbid with unhealthy food intake and shopping addiction, as well as affective disorder of depression, anxiety, and mania.
- Females relative to males were more likely to report both SNS addiction and affective disorder.
- Compared to the total sample, students with SNS addiction were more likely to report affective disorder, unhealthy food intake, and shopping addiction.

Purpose of the researchThis study aimed to determine the prevalence of addiction to social networking sites/platforms (SNS) and its comorbidity with other behavioral addiction and affective disorder among college students in Singapore. 1110 college students (age: M = 21.46, SD = 1.80) in Singapore completed measures assessing online social networking, unhealthy food intake and shopping addiction as well as depression, anxiety and mania. Descriptive analyses were conducted to investigate the prevalence and comorbidity of behavioral addiction and affective disorder. Chi-square tests were used to examine gender differences.The principal resultsThe prevalence rates of SNS, food and shopping addiction were 29.5%, 4.7% and 9.3% respectively for the total sample. SNS addiction was found to co-occur with food addiction (3%), shopping addiction (5%), and both food and shopping addiction (1%). The comorbidity rates of SNS addiction and affective disorder were 21% for depression, 27.7% for anxiety, and 26.1% for mania. Compared with the total sample, students with SNS addiction reported higher comorbidity rates with other behavioral addiction and affective disorder. In general, females as compared to males reported higher comorbidity rates of SNS addiction and affective disorder.Major conclusionsSNS addiction has a high prevalence rate among college students in Singapore. Students with SNS addiction were vulnerable to experience other behavior addiction as well as affective disorder, especially among females.