Objective: The content shared on social media may cause secondary
traumatic stress (STS) symptoms. The aim of this study is to evaluate the
severity of social media related STS and the associated factors in university
students who were not directly affected by the February 2023 earthquakes.
Method: In total, 436 university students completed an online survey
including the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale for Social Media Users
(STSS-SM), the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS),
the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-42), and demographic
information and questions regarding social media use preferences after
the earthquake.
Results: A large portion of the participants (79.1%) reported that they
followed the news about the February 2023 earthquakes on social media
instead of other media tools. STS associated with social media addiction,
depression, anxiety and stress levels (r=0.475 p<0.001; r=0.543 p<0.001;
r=0.583 p<0.001; r=0.591 p<0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis
revealed that, female gender, social media addiction and anxiety levels
predicted STS and explained 43.3% of the total variance. STS symptoms
were higher in those who followed the earthquake-related news on social
media (t=3.534 p<0.001) and in those who reported that Twitter was
their preferred social media platform to access information regarding the
earthquake (40.8%; (t=6.376 p=0.002)).
Conclusion: Social media has been widely used for news gathering
following the February 2023 earthquakes. The results of this study reveal
that STS in social media users is affected by gender, social media addiction,
depression, anxiety, stress levels and social media platform preference.
Keywords: Earthquake, Secondary Trauma, Social Media Addiction,
Depression, Anxiety, Traumatic Stress