Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. In this cross-sectional sample of 466 Lebanese adults, higher problematic social media use was significantly associated with higher odds of ADHD symptoms, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.065 in the multivariable model.

The study also found that participants with ADHD had higher mean problematic social media use than participants without ADHD in the bivariate analysis.

Yes. Anxiety partially mediated the association between problematic social media use and ADHD symptoms, accounting for 24.49% of that relationship in the mediation analysis.

In the multivariable model that included anxiety, higher anxiety was also independently associated with higher odds of ADHD, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.043.

No. The authors found that depression did not mediate the association between problematic social media use and ADHD symptoms in this sample.

Participants reported a mean of 6.22 b1 4.92 hours devoted to social media. The mean Social Media Disorder Scale score was 8.15 b1 5.71, indicating the study measured not only time spent but also problematic or compulsive patterns of use.

ADHD symptoms were identified with the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale. The study used part A of the scale, and participants were considered to have symptoms highly compatible with adult ADHD if they had 4 or more marks in the darkly shaded boxes.

Because the study used a self-report screening instrument rather than a clinical interview, the findings apply to screening-detected ADHD symptoms rather than diagnostically confirmed adult ADHD.

This was a cross-sectional study conducted between January and May 2019, so it can identify associations but cannot establish causality.

The authors specifically noted that the design does not allow evaluation of whether problematic social media use causes ADHD symptoms, whether ADHD symptoms contribute to problematic social media use, or whether shared risk factors explain the association.

The study enrolled 466 randomly selected Lebanese adults older than 18 years from Lebanon's governorates. The mean age was 27.29 b1 11.46 years, 61.8% were female, 68.1% were single, and 66.7% had university-level education.

The authors cautioned that the results may not generalize to the whole population because the sample was relatively young and not representative of all age groups, and males were less represented than females.

The main limitations were that the study was cross-sectional, all variables were measured with self-report questionnaires rather than clinical interviews, and recall, selection, and information bias were possible.

The authors also noted that males were underrepresented, subclinical ADHD symptoms may have been missed because the subclinical symptom score was not used, and unmeasured shared risk factors such as genetic or environmental influences could have contributed to both ADHD symptoms and problematic social media use.

The findings suggest clinicians should assess problematic social media use and anxiety when adults present with ADHD symptoms, because both were associated with higher odds of ADHD in this sample.

The authors also recommended looking for comorbid mood symptoms, using appropriate scales to assess ADHD and associated mental illness, and considering supportive interventions such as counseling, cognitive-behavioral techniques, mindfulness, and family support. These implications should be interpreted cautiously because the study was observational and based on self-report measures.