In the midst of an ever-changing world that we inhabit today, many facets that were once viewed as ‘intruding’, ‘alien’, or utter anomalies, have turned into integral linchpins of our day-to-day lives, and without them, the modern dynamics of human essence are portrayed as incompetent. Amongst those pivotal factors are the emergence of the Internet, social media platforms, and the inevitable ascendancy of the virtual world. That is, the perception of what is deemed incongruent is primarily dependent on how well one seems to utilize social media, as it is the cutting edge of the contemporary means of social evolution. Indeed, the conception of social engagement has become completely novel nowadays from what it was in the past, and despite the fact that communication has been altered to fit ‘electronic screens’, it has facilitated the mechanisms of communication in a way that is simply undeniable. Howbeit, on the other hand, this cacophony of interactive tools has created one of the virtual world’s most obstreperous dogmas, that is, social media addiction. The rapid changes in external methods of communication have contributed to the stripping of our innate roots of ordeal human communication and thus completely remolded our behaviors in a whirlwind of what seemed like a revolutionary momentum. That is, socialization and the formation of both individual identity and communal solidarity are essentially centered around our online practices, where the dependencies of such shift in communication transmit further into the entirety of our beings and seep into our subconsciousness. Thus, among the notions of social media’s intermingling with human intellect, is the deployment of emotional intelligence (EI) in dealing with social media addiction. Formulating the crux to this research, this paper seeks to shed light on the role of EI in either dampening or arousing the desires of obsessive social media use, especially since there is a major dearth of studies that observe the crucialness of EI management in controlling addictive behaviors on various social media platforms. Through the use of a quantitative research approach, this study examined the role of several motivations for social media use, namely, entertainment, communication, self-expression, and relationship maintenance, in moderating the relationship between EI and social media addiction. This was achieved by distributing questionnaires to 400 participants aged between 18 and 25 in the Kampala Region of Uganda, using a random sampling method. Findings elucidated that EI is negatively correlated to social media addiction, implying that a higher level of EI translates to a lower desire for social media addiction and vice versa, while all four motivations for social media use were significantly correlated with social media addiction. Furthermore, results conveyed that entertainment and relationship management are amongst the top stimulating mediators for the relationship between EI and social media addiction. However, this also implies that if individuals have low levels of EI, it does not necessarily guarantee that they will most likely adopt pathological social media behaviors, simply because the motivations for using such online platforms critically vary from one individual to the other, while also simultaneously keeping an analytical eye on the role of freewill in promulgating this dilemma in possible future research.

Shame is a distressing self-conscious emotion which arises from evaluating oneself as immodest or indecorous and leads to avoidant behaviour as well as defensive anger. Guilt is the negative appraisal of a behaviour or thought and provides readiness to take action to compensate for the wrongdoing. Experiencing these emotions more intensely and frequently with interruptions during the daily life is named as shame or guilt-proneness. Emotion regulation includes processing and regulation of emotions to keep one pursuing goals in life. Individuals who lack effective skills to regulate their emotions or adopt ineffective ones experience difficulties in emotion regulation. Somatic symptoms include medically unexplained symptoms that one suffers from. Mostly, these symptoms, such as headache, dizziness or nausea, are due to unprocessed emotions carried from childhood as a result of maltreatment or abuse. The literature shows that these variables are related to each other. This study focuses on how emotion regulation difficulties mediate between shame and guilt-proneness and somatic symptoms. The data were collected from 374 participants on online platforms using questionnaires with relevant scales. In order to summarize the data collected descriptive statistics was conducted and the relationship between variables was understood with correlation analysis. Furthermore, predictor role of shame-proneness was analysed with regression analysis and mediation analysis was employed to reveal the mediator role difficulties in emotion regulation in relationship between shame-proneness and somatic symptoms. The results illustrated that all variables except guilt-proneness were associated with each other and difficulties in emotion regulation have a mediator role between two variables. The results can benefit mental health workers and patients who lack emotion regulation strategies and deal with somatic symptoms.

International students navigate a complex ecosystem influenced by various interrelated factors such as academic settings, family influences, social supports, and the process of cultural adjustment. While universities provide institutional support, the direct or indirect effect of family and social support network in the adaptation process and mental wellbeing is paramount. The interplay of acculturative stress, loneliness, perceived social support, and depression among international students warrants extensive study due to its profound impact on mental health and academic outcomes. This research aims to investigate the mediating role of loneliness and the moderating influence of perceived social support in the relationship between acculturative stress and depression among Nigerian university students in Northern Cyprus. Utilizing a cross-sectional quantitative research design, data were collected via a Google Survey from 392 Nigerian international students residing in Northern Cyprus. Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing acculturative stress, loneliness, perceived social support, depression, and demographic details. Results indicate that acculturative stress directly influences depression, with loneliness partially mediating this relationship. Additionally, the impact of acculturative stress on loneliness and depression is significantly moderated by participants’ perceived social support. These findings underscore the importance of addressing acculturative stress and fostering social support networks to mitigate depressive symptoms among Nigerian students studying abroad. Further research and interventions aimed at enhancing social support mechanisms are imperative to promote the mental well-being of this population.

The present study addressed the issue of whether occupational Burnout Syndrome (BS) is associated with Romantic Relationship Dissatisfaction (RRS) among academics; it was also expected that Workplace Bullying (WPB) moderates the relationship between these variables. A cross-sectional study was conducted by delivering the questionnaire surveys to the recruited sample group of 320 university lecturers from three different universities in Northern Cyprus to test the research hypothesis. Moderated multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. As it was hypothesized, our results indicated a negative association between burnout syndrome and romantic relationship satisfaction; indicating higher levels of burnout might lead to lower romantic relationship satisfaction. However, the proportion of romantic relationship satisfaction total score varied slightly when workplace bullying moderated this relationship. Our findings contribute to different scientific aspects by its valuable implications for researchers, practitioners, academicians, managers, and various organization staffs’ self-awareness.

This study aimed at furthering the research on the relationship between social communication apprehension, self-esteem and Facebook addiction. To measure the three variables, a questionnaire comprised of The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24), The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RES), and The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) was administered to 654 university students in Uganda. Pearson’s correlation analysis and multiple linear regression coefficient analysis were carried out. A positive significant relationship between communication apprehension and Facebook addiction and a negative significant relationship between self-esteem and Facebook addiction were reported. Findings further revealed that self-esteem and communication apprehension significantly predicted Facebook addiction.