Predictive Effects of Social Media Addiction on Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills among Healthcare Professionals

Cyprus Turkish Journal of Psychiatry & Psychology, Early View

Published Online: 29 July 2026, Doi:10.35365/ctjpp.26.3.21

RESEARCH ARTICLE ARAŞTIRMA YAZISI

Predictive Effects of Social Media Addiction on Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills among Healthcare Professionals

Sağlık Çalışanlarında Sosyal Medya Bağımlılıklarının Duygusal Zekâ ve İletişim Becerileri Üzerine Yordayıcı Etkisi

Vesile Adıgüzel¹

Abstract:

The use of social media has been increasing steadily. Rising levels of social media addiction among healthcare professionals may affect their emotional intelligence and communication skills. This study aimed to determine the predictive effect of social media addiction on emotional intelligence and communication skills among healthcare professionals. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted between June 15 and August 15, 2024, with 260 healthcare professionals employed at a state hospital in Yalova; 74.8% of participants were female. The Personal Information Form, the Social Media Addiction Scale–Adult Form, the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale, and the Communication Skills Scale were administered. Using SPSS for Windows version 25.0, the predictive effect of social media addiction on emotional intelligence and communication skills was analyzed with simple linear regression. The findings indicated a significant negative association between social media addiction and both emotional intelligence and communication skills (p < .05). However, the predictive power of social media addiction was low for emotional intelligence (adjusted R² = 0.018) and for communication skills (adjusted R² = 0.068). These findings indicate that social media addiction explained 1.8% of the variance in emotional intelligence and 6.8% of the variance in communication skills. The relationship between social media addiction and emotional intelligence and communication skills appears to be limited. To increase the model’s explanatory power, incorporating additional variables related to social media use is recommended, along with developing awareness programs on responsible social media use.

Keywords: Healthcare professionals, Social media addiction, Emotional intelligence, Communication skills.

¹Yalova University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Division of Psychiatric Nursing, Yalova, Türkiye.

Address of Correspondence/Yazışma Adresi: Vesile Adıgüzel, Yalova University, Central Campus, Çınarcık Road, E-mail: [email protected].

Date of Received/Geliş Tarihi: 28.10.2025, Date of Revision/Düzeltme Tarihi: 07.01.2026, Date of Acceptance/Kabul Tarihi: 22.01.2026, Date of Online Publication/Çevirimiçi Yayın Tarihi: 03.08.2026

Citing/Referans Gösterimi: Adıgüzel, V. (2026). Predictive effects of social media addiction on emotional ıntelligence and communication skills among healthcare professionals. Cyprus Turkish Journal of Psychiatry & Psychology, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.35365/ctjpp.26.3.21

© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Cyprus Mental Health Institute / Cyprus Turkish Journal of Psychiatry and Psychology (www.ktppdergisi.com). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/