Medical students are the category of academic population with the highest levels of stress. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of academic stress among medical students in Saudi Arabia and to identify its associated factors. This cross-sectional study was conducted at the College of Medicine at King Khalid University, Abha. The Medical Student Stressor Questionnaire (MSSQ) was used to evaluate the stress caused by different factors. A total of 422 medical students participated in this study. Among the participants, 115 (27.3%) were male and 307 (72.7%) were female. The highest percentage of students were perceiving moderate to severe stress due to academic-related stressors (97.1%), followed by teaching- and learning-related stressors (93.9%) and group activities-related stressors (88.3%). The lowest domain in which students perceived moderate to severe stress was drive and desire-related stressors (65.8%). The mean percentage of students who perceived moderate-to-severe stress in all domains of stressors was 85.5%. We can conclude that medical students have a high degree of stress, and we emphasize the importance of implementing stress management programs to teach students how to handle stress in order to avoid negative effects on their health and academic performance.

Social media addiction has become a serious public health concern due to its adverse psychological effects. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and determinants of social media addiction among medical students in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was designed. Participants (n = 326) from King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia completed the sociodemographic information, patient health questionnaire-9 scale, and the generalized anxiety disorder-7 tool to measure explanatory variables. The Bergen social media addiction scale (BSMAS) was used to measure social media addiction. A multiple linear regression model was fitted to investigate the predictors of social media addiction. The prevalence of social media addiction among study participants was 55.2% (mean BSMAS score: 16.6). According to the adjusted linear regression, male students had higher social media addiction scores than their female counterparts (β = 4.52, p < 0.001). Students’ academic performance was negatively associated with social media addiction scores. Moreover, students with symptoms of depression (β = 1.85, p = 0.005) or anxiety (β = 2.79, p = 0.003) had a higher BSMAS score compared to their counterparts. Further longitudinal studies are warranted to identify the causal factors of social media addiction, which would assist intervention initiatives by policymakers.

Alexithymia is a condition in which a person is unable to explain his/her emotions, bodily sensations, or discuss sentiments. This study aims to determine the prevalence of alexithymia and its relationships with socio-demographics and depression among medical students. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among medical students at King Khalid University (KKU), Saudi Arabia. A stratified random sampling technique was utilized for data collection using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). A multiple logistic regression model was used to identify the factors associated with alexithymia. A total of 333 students participated in this study, almost two-thirds (64.6%) were from clinical years, and 51.4% were females. The prevalence of alexithymia and depression was 47.4% and 88.9%, respectively. Regression analysis showed females had a doubled risk (OR = 2.09), and students with high-income status showed less probability of having alexithymia (OR = 0.39), whereas people with chronic health problems showed a doubled risk for alexithymia (OR = 2.04). Moreover, depression was significantly associated with alexithymia (OR = 1.91). Our study revealed that the prevalence of alexithymia was high along with depression among studied samples. This raises attention towards finding measures to reduce it for the better performance of students and to avoid psychological problems in the future.