Problematic social media use linked to loneliness and death anxiety

A study of adult social media users in Italy suggested that loneliness and death anxiety might mediate the relationship between attachment anxiety and problematic social media use. The paper was published in Death Studies.

Attachment anxiety is a form of insecure attachment characterized by fear of rejection and excessive need for closeness in relationships. People with attachment anxiety constantly worry that their partner does not love them enough or will eventually leave them.

This persistent fear can lead to clingy or overly dependent behaviors as they seek reassurance. Even minor signs of distance or withdrawal from a partner can trigger intense distress or jealousy. Such individuals tend to be highly sensitive to changes in tone, attention, or affection. Their self-esteem is often highly dependent on how they are treated by significant others.

Attachment theory proposes that this form of anxiety develops from inconsistent caregiving during childhood, where affection and attention were unpredictable. In adulthood, it can make relationships emotionally exhausting and unstable.

Study author Alessandro Musetti and his colleagues hypothesized that attachment anxiety contributes to problematic social media use through a chain of psychological factors. They proposed that this relationship is mediated first by loneliness and then by death anxiety. Citing Terror Management Theory, they noted that individuals often cope with existential anxiety by seeking “symbolic immortality”—a sense of being part of something larger that will outlast them. The authors suggest that individuals with attachment anxiety may turn to social media to build a lasting digital presence as a way of achieving this symbolic immortality.

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The study included 799 Italian adults (52% women) with an average age of 32. Regarding education, 54% had finished high school and 16% had a bachelor’s degree. In terms of employment, 31% were employed full-time, while 27% were students.

They completed a survey containing assessments of attachment anxiety (the Relationship Questionnaire), loneliness (the UCLA–Loneliness Scale), death anxiety (the Death Anxiety Scale), and problematic social media use (the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale). Problematic social media use is a pattern of excessive or compulsive engagement with social media that interferes with daily functioning, relationships, or mental well-being.

Results showed that attachment anxiety was positively correlated with the other measured traits. Individuals with higher attachment anxiety also tended to report greater loneliness, stronger death anxiety, and more symptoms of problematic social media use.

The researchers’ statistical model revealed a nuanced set of relationships. First, it showed that two forms of loneliness—isolation (lacking a social network) and relational disconnectedness (lacking intimate relationships)—each helped explain the link between attachment anxiety and problematic social media use. More specifically, the model supported a sequential pathway: attachment anxiety was linked to higher relational disconnectedness, which in turn was linked to greater death anxiety, which finally was associated with problematic social media use. This specific chain of events was not found for the other types of loneliness.

“These findings underscore the significance underlying psychological processes in PSMU [problematic social media use], suggesting potential avenues for targeted interventions that address attachment-related insecurities, relational disconnectedness, and existential concerns,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the consequences of attachment anxiety. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be derived from the results. The statistical model tested and supported by data only shows that the state of relationships it proposes is possible, not that it is definitely true.

The paper, “Attachment anxiety, loneliness, and death anxiety in problematic social media use,” was authored by Alessandro Musetti, Alessandro Alberto Rossi, Mattia Pezzi, Stefania Mannarini, Vittorio Lenzo, and Adriano Schimmenti.