PENGARUH SELF ESTEEM TERHADAP PROBLEMATIC SOCIAL MEDIA USE PADA REMAJA PENGGUNA INSTAGRAM

Social media, particularly Instagram, has become an integral part of adolescents’ daily lives and may influence their psychological well being. Excessive use of Instagram can develop into problematic social media use (PSMU), which refers to maladaptive patterns of social media use that are difficult to control and negatively affect daily functioning. One psychological factor that is assumed to influence PSMU is self esteem. This study aimed to examine the effect of self esteem on problematic social media use among adolescent Instagram users. This research employed a quantitative correlational design. The participants consisted of 424 adolescents aged 12–21 years who were active Instagram users determined by convenience sampling technique. Data were collected using the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES) to measure self esteem and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) to measure PSMU. Data were analyzed using simple linear regression. The results showed that self esteem had a significant effect on PSMU among adolescent Instagram users (p < 0.001) with a negative relationship. This indicates that higher levels of self esteem are associated with lower tendencies toward PSMU. These findings suggest that self esteem plays an important psychological role in regulating adolescents’ social media use.