The Impact of Social Media Disorder, Family Functioning, and Community Social Disorder on Adolescents' Psychological Distress: The Mediating Role of Intolerance to Uncertainty

Adolescent levels of psychological distress are strongly influenced by community, individual, social, and family factors. Family functioning, social media use, and community disorder have shown high predictive value for psychological distress during this critical stage of development. However, these relationships are not always direct and are often mediated by individual-level variables, such as intolerance of uncertainty. Adolescent psychological well-being is not solely determined by contextual factors; the coping skills developed during this critical stage also play a significant role. Our study aims to analyze how these factors are directly and indirectly related by developing a predictive model of psychological distress in adolescents.

The study included 908 adolescents (46.9% female) aged between 14 and 21 years (M = 16.29, SD = 1.5). Participants completed self-administered questionnaires in a school setting. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate total, direct, and indirect effects.

The model showed a good fit to the data. Social media disorder and family functioning showed statistically significant direct and indirect effects on psychological distress. Social media disorder was associated with higher psychological distress, while positive family functioning was protective. Community social disorder was only indirectly linked to higher psychological distress through the increase of intolerance of uncertainty.

Intolerance of uncertainty is a critical predictor of adolescent distress, often overlooked despite its significant mediating role. Direct effects of family functioning and social media use also strongly influence distress levels. Impaired family functioning and community disorder interact bidirectionally, creating a cycle that exacerbates distress. Adolescents in these contexts face compounded negative effects from these reinforcing environments.