Childhood emotional maltreatment was associated with higher social media addiction among university students, with poorer executive function statistically accounting for part of this association, and higher physical activity frequency associated with a weaker positive direct association between childhood emotional maltreatment and social media addiction.
Key Findings
Results
Childhood emotional maltreatment was positively associated with social media addiction among university students.
Cross-sectional data were collected from 1,978 university students.
Students completed measures of childhood emotional maltreatment, executive function, social media addiction, and physical activity frequency over the previous 7 days.
Models 4 and 8 of the SPSS PROCESS macro tested mediation and moderated mediation after adjustment for demographic covariates.
The association was assessed at the item level using network analysis in addition to standard regression-based mediation.
Results
Executive function partially mediated the association between childhood emotional maltreatment and social media addiction.
The indirect effect through executive function was 0.173.
This indirect effect accounted for 50.29% of the total effect of childhood emotional maltreatment on social media addiction.
Because the mediation was partial, a significant direct effect of childhood emotional maltreatment on social media addiction remained after accounting for executive function.
Mediation was tested using Model 4 of the SPSS PROCESS macro with adjustment for demographic covariates.
Results
Physical activity frequency moderated the associations between childhood emotional maltreatment, executive function, and social media addiction.
Interactions between childhood emotional maltreatment and physical activity were significant for both executive function and social media addiction.
At higher physical activity frequency, the positive direct association between childhood emotional maltreatment and social media addiction was weaker.
At higher physical activity frequency, the negative association between childhood emotional maltreatment and executive function was stronger, not weaker.
Moderated mediation was tested using Model 8 of the SPSS PROCESS macro.
Physical activity frequency was measured over the previous 7 days.
Results
Higher physical activity did not show a comparable buffering pattern for the relationship between childhood emotional maltreatment and executive function.
While higher physical activity was associated with a weaker direct association between childhood emotional maltreatment and social media addiction, the negative association between childhood emotional maltreatment and executive function was actually stronger at higher physical activity levels.
This asymmetric pattern indicates that physical activity's moderating role differed across the two pathways examined.
The finding suggests physical activity may reduce social media addiction risk through mechanisms other than buffering executive function deficits linked to childhood emotional maltreatment.
Results
In the item-level network, the strongest negative connection between childhood emotional maltreatment and executive function linked perceived hatred and emotional harm from family members to impulsive behavior without considering consequences.
Network analysis estimated item-level conditional associations and identified key nodes.
The strongest negative connection between executive function and social media addiction linked forgetting assigned tasks to functional impairment from excessive social media use.
The emotional abuse item had the highest node strength and bridge strength in the network.
The working-memory item had the highest closeness centrality.
The social media addiction item reflecting an increasing urge to use social media had the highest one-step bridge expected influence.
Results
Emotional harm within the family, difficulties in inhibitory control and working memory, and an increasing urge to use social media were identified as salient features of the item-level network.
Node strength and bridge strength metrics identified the emotional abuse item as the most central node in the network.
Closeness centrality was highest for the working-memory item, indicating it is most proximally connected to all other nodes in the network.
One-step bridge expected influence was highest for the social media addiction item reflecting an increasing urge to use social media, identifying it as a key cross-community connector.
These network metrics highlight specific items rather than scale-level constructs as potential intervention targets.
What This Means
This research suggests that university students who experienced emotional maltreatment during childhood — such as feeling hated or emotionally harmed by family members — are more likely to develop problematic social media use as young adults. The study of nearly 2,000 university students found that about half of this relationship can be explained by poorer executive function (the mental abilities that help people plan, control impulses, and manage working memory), meaning that emotional maltreatment may undermine these cognitive skills, which in turn makes excessive social media use more likely.
The study also found that physical activity plays a complex moderating role. Students who were more physically active showed a weaker direct link between childhood emotional maltreatment and social media addiction, suggesting physical activity may offer some protection against this risk. However, physical activity did not buffer the negative relationship between childhood maltreatment and executive function — and in fact, the association between maltreatment and poorer executive function was somewhat stronger among more active students, pointing to a nuanced pattern that warrants further investigation.
Using a network analysis approach, the researchers were able to pinpoint specific items — rather than broad constructs — that appear most central to these relationships. Feeling hated or emotionally harmed by family, acting impulsively without thinking through consequences, forgetting assigned tasks, and experiencing a growing urge to use social media emerged as particularly important connection points in the network. This research suggests that interventions targeting inhibitory control, working memory, and the urge to use social media, alongside trauma-informed approaches addressing childhood emotional harm, may be relevant directions for addressing social media addiction in young adults.
Check Your Own Numbers
Upload your bloodwork. We'll cross-reference your results against this study and 4,700 others.
Chen Y, Wang N, Yuan A, Xiang L, Long S, Luo J, et al.. (2026). Linking childhood emotional maltreatment to social media addiction: a network perspective on executive function and physical activity.. Frontiers in public health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1945221