Psychology and Behavioral Sciences 2015; 4(1): 23-28 Published online January 30, 2015 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/pbs) doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20150401.14 ISSN: 2328-7837 (Print); ISSN: 2328-7845 (Online) Dimensions of social media addiction among university students in Kuwait Jamal J. Al-Menayes Kuwait University, College of Arts, Department of Mass Communication, Kuwait City, Kuwait Email address: jamal@almenayes.com To cite this article: Jamal J. Al-Menayes. Dimensions of Social Media Addiction among University Students in Kuwait. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences. Vol. 4, No. 1, 2015, pp. 23-28. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20150401.14 Abstract: This study aimed to examine social media addiction in a sample of university students. Based on the Internet addiction scale developed by Young (1996) the researcher used cross-sectional survey methodology in which a questionnaire was distributed to 1327 undergraduate students with their consent. Factor analysis of the self-report data showed that social media addiction has three independent dimensions. These dimensions were positively related to the users experience with social media; time spent using social media and satisfaction with them. In addition, social media addiction was a negative predictor of academic performance as measured by a student's GPA. Future studies should consider the cultural values of users and examine the context of social media usage. Keywords: Social Media, Addiction, Factor Analysis, Kuwait 1. Introduction Internet addiction is not yet considered a disorder by the psychiatric literature as evidenced by its exclusion from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-V), published by the American Psychiatric Association. However, an alarming rate of people show what are seemingly symptoms of addiction to Cyberspace. Young people seem especially susceptible, with evidence underscoring students whose academic performance is compromised as they spend increasing amount of time online (Al-Menayes, 2014). Some also suffer health consequence resulting from lack of sleep brought about by the growing amount of time they spend on the Internet especially late at night. Research into Internet addiction has grown dramatically since the mid 1990s, especially as more and more cases among college students have been detected by university healthcare professionals (Wallace, 2014). The terminology, to describe this phenomenon, varies widely in the literature. In addition to 'Internet addiction', terms such as 'Internet dependency', 'compulsive Internet use', 'problematic Internet use', 'dysfunctional Internet use', and 'pathological Internet use' have been used to describe what is essentially the same behavior (Kuss and Griffiths, 2012). For this article, I will use 'Internet addiction' mainly due to its wide usage in the research. Research in different countries has produced varying results of the prevalence of Internet addiction. A study in the UK, for example, found Internet addiction to be prevalent among 18% of young people (Neimz, Griffith and Banyard, 2006). A study in Italy found that rate to be only 0.8% (Poli and Agrimi, 2012). In addition, a large sample survey in China puts the rate at 12% among male and 5% among female students (Lau, 2011). Internet addiction is not just restricted to college campuses; it also extends to high school as well as middle school students. A longitudinal survey conducted in Hong Kong reported prevalence rate of Internet addiction as high as 26.7% among high school students (Yu and Shek, 2013). When it comes to the amount of time spent online, studies show that individuals, who regard themselves as Internet addicts, indicated that it varies greatly from 8.5 hours per week to 21.2 hours per week (Yang and Tung, 2007). Other studies found that the higher the amount of time spent online, the greater the extent of the symptoms of Internet addiction (Leung, 2004; Widyanto and McMurran, 2004). In relation to users' psychological profile, studies have revealed a correlation between depression, locus of control, loneliness, social anxiety, self-esteem and Internet addiction (Selfhout et al., 2009; Sun et al., 2005). Whang et al. (2003) found that Internet addicts had a higher degree of loneliness