Mental Disorders, Social Media Addiction, and Academic Performance in Romanian Undergraduate Nursing Students

Introduction: We aimed to evaluate social media addiction in Romanian undergraduate nursing students and its association with academic performance, depression, and anxiety. Methods: We used a cross-sectional online survey to collect data among nursing undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Hatieganu", Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The Social Media Addiction Scale-Student Form (SMAS-SF), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were used to assess social media addiction, depression, and anxiety, respectively. Results: A total of 90 nursing students participated in the study, of which 82 (91.1%) were females and 81 (90%) were of Romanian ethnicity. The median age of participants was 21 years (18-40). Males showed higher BDI total scores, SMAS-SF total scores, and STAI scale A state anxiety compared to females, and females showed higher STAI scale A trait anxiety compared to males, although these results were not statistically significant. Also, we found no significant difference in these variables between participants from different study years. Participants with no or mild depression had a significantly higher academic performance (p-value = 0.001), lower SMAS-SF (p-value = 0.004), and lower STAI scores (p-value < 0.001) compared to participants with borderline, moderate, or severe depression after performing multivariate regression analysis. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that depression was significantly associated with social media addiction, anxiety, and lower academic performance in Romanian undergraduate nursing students.