Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the mediating effects of dark personality triad and real and mediated social interactions on social media addiction and academic performance of university students.
Methods: A total of 247 university students studying during the summer term of 2019 were asked to respond on the Short Dark Triad Scale, Social Interaction Scale, and Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale.
Results: The results of this study revealed a strong direct positive path from the mediated social interaction to social media addiction (β=0.53) (p<0.01). Moreover, it partially mediated the indirect path from psychopathy to social media addiction. The narcissistic personality directly enhanced student’s academic performance and did not affect social interaction or social media addiction. In summary, excessive mediated social interaction might be the step before social media addiction, whereas social media addiction negatively affected student’s academic performance. Furthermore, psychopathic personality has a tendency toward social media addiction, whereas narcissistic personality shows improved academic performance.
