The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Support between Social media Addiction and Attachment Styles in Adult Instagram users in Tehran

The research aimed to study the mediating role of perceived social support in the relation between adult attachment styles and social media addiction of Instagram users The statistical population of the study consisted of adult Instagram users in Tehran. The sample comprised 50 adults aged 18-60 who completed the measures adult attachment styles scale. perceived social support inquiry and social media addiction scale. The result from structural equation modeling (via Smart PLS) demonstrated that only the association between secure attachment style and social media addiction was mediated by perceived social support  .on the other hand ambivalent and avoidant attachment styles were not found to be associated indirectly with social media addition by the mediation of perceived social support. but the direct association between avoidant and ambivalent styles has been found. The Finding of this study suggests that ambivalent and avoidant attachment can be risk factors for social media addiction. on the other hand secure attachment style may not be necessarily a protective factor and mediating role of perceived social support was only found between secure attachment and social media addiction. The present study represents a step toward a better understanding of the psychological mechanisms and theoretical foundation for future studies on social media addiction.