The Mediating Role of Technostress in the Relationship between Problematic Social Media Use and Academic Burnout among Adolescents

Objective: This study investigated the mediating role of technostress in the relationship between Problematic Social Media Use (PSMU) and academic burnout among adolescents within the framework of the stress-strain-outcome (SSO) model. Method: The participants were ۳۷۹ Iranian high school students (۱۹۵ girls and ۱۸۴ boys), selected through a multi-stage cluster sampling method. To evaluate the key constructs of the study, data were gathered using three validated instruments: the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (Andreassen et al., ۲۰۱۷), the SNS-Stress Creators (Maier et al., ۲۰۱۵b), and the School Burnout Inventory (Salmela-Aro et al., ۲۰۰۹a). Results: The results of the structural equation modeling indicated that PSMU has a positive and significant role in predicting students' academic burnout (β=.۴۸, p<.۰۰۱). Additionally, PSMU was also found to be a positive and significant predictor of technostress (β=.۵۴, p<.۰۰۱). Moreover, the findings indicated that technostress partially mediated the association between PSMU and academic burnout (β=.۱۲, p<.۰۰۱). Conclusions: The findings provide empirical support for the proposed SSO model, indicating that technostress statistically mediates the relationship between PSMU and academic burnout. Accordingly, technostress may represent an important pathway through which PSMU is associated with academic burnout, highlighting the need to consider technology-related strain when addressing the academic consequences of PSMU.

کلیدواژه ها:

Academic burnout ، problematic social media use ، Stress-Strain-Outcome Model ، technostress