Key Takeaways
Extended Takeaways
- This cross-sectional analysis included 466 Lebanese adults, exceeding the prespecified minimal sample of 416, with a relatively young cohort age of 27.29 ± 11.46 years; clinicians should be cautious about generalizing these findings to older adults.
- Participants reported heavy social media exposure, averaging 6.22 ± 4.92 hours daily, alongside a Social Media Disorder Scale score of 8.15 ± 5.71, suggesting that routine assessment should ask not only whether patients use social media but how long they use it and whether the use is compulsive.
- ADHD status was defined with the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale using the standard part A threshold of 4 or more marks in the darkly shaded boxes, so the findings are most applicable to screening-detected ADHD symptoms rather than diagnostically confirmed adult ADHD.
- In the multivariable model, problematic social media use remained associated with ADHD with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.065, and anxiety was independently associated with ADHD with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.043; clinically, both digital behavior and anxiety symptoms appear relevant when evaluating attentional complaints.
- Depression did not mediate the relationship between problematic social media use and ADHD in this sample, which may help psychiatrists prioritize anxiety assessment when patients present with problematic social media use plus inattentive or impulsive symptoms.
- Because all measures were based on self-report rather than psychiatric interview, these results support using brief scales to flag risk in primary care or outpatient psychiatry, followed by diagnostic clarification before attributing attention problems to adult ADHD alone.
