Journals / Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 24 Sayı: 1

The Mediating Role of Doomscrolling in the Relationship Among Fear of Happiness and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in University Students

Üniversite Öğrencilerinde Mutluluk Korkusu ile Depresyon, Anksiyete ve Stres Arasındaki İlişkide Felaket Kaydırmasının Aracı Rolü

Ayşe Sena Öztürk(NECMETTİN ERBAKAN ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0009-0008-0788-2866
Tolga Seki(NECMETTIN ERBAKAN UNIVERSITY)0000-0001-5594-0786
Pages
275–294
Publication Date
2026-04-29
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

In addition, fear of happiness and doomscrolling explain 21% of depression, 19% of anxiety and 17% of stress in individuals.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of doomscrolling in the relationship among fear of happiness and depression, anxiety, and stress among university students.
📊
Key Findings & Data:From different universities in Türkiye, 437 university students participated in the study.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:In addition, fear of happiness and doomscrolling explain 21% of depression, 19% of anxiety and 17% of stress in individuals.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Mutluluk korkusu · Depresyon · Anksiyete

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of doomscrolling in the relationship among fear of happiness and depression, anxiety, and stress among university students. From different universities in Türkiye, 437 university students participated in the study. The research data were collected using the Personal Information Form, Fear of Happiness Scale, Doomscrolling Scale, and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale. The research data were analyzed using skewness and kurtosis analysis, internal consistency analysis, correlation analysis, and mediation test. Among the participants, 42.1% reported a daily internet use duration of 5-7 hours and the rate of those who checked their social media accounts more than five times a day was 34.4%. The study found that fear of happiness positive predicted the level of doomscrolling and doomscrolling positive predicted individuals' levels of depression, anxiety and stress. The study revealed that fear of happiness significantly predicted depression, anxiety and stress levels and that some of this effect was indirectly realized through doomscrolling. In addition, fear of happiness and doomscrolling explain 21% of depression, 19% of anxiety and 17% of stress in individuals.

Özet

Bu araştırmanın amacı üniversite öğrencilerinde mutluluk korkusu ile depresyon, anksiyete ve stres arasındaki ilişkide felaket kaydırmasının aracı rolünü incelemektir. Araştırmaya Türkiye’nin farklı üniversitelerinde öğrenim görmekte olan 437 üniversite öğrencisi katılmıştır. Araştırma verileri, Kişisel Bilgi Formu, Mutluluk Korkusu Ölçeği, Felaket Kaydırması Ölçeği ve Depresyon, Anksiyete, Stres Ölçeği ile toplanmıştır. Araştırma verileri çarpıklık ve basıklık analizi, iç tutarlık analizi, korelasyon analizi ve aracılık testi kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmaya katılan bireylerin %42,1’i günlük internet kullanma süresini 5-7 saat olarak belirtmiştir ve sosyal medya hesaplarını günde beş defadan fazla kontrol edenlerin oranı %34,4'tür. Araştırmada mutluluk korkusunun felaket kaydırma düzeyini pozitif yordadığı; felaket kaydırmanın da bireylerin depresyon, anksiyete ve stres düzeylerini pozitif yordadığı bulunmuştur. Araştırma, mutluluk korkusunun depresyon, anksiyete ve stres düzeyini hem doğrudan hem de felaket kaydırma aracılığıyla yordadığını ortaya koymuştur. Ayrıca mutluluk korkusu ve felaket kaydırması bireylerin sahip olduğu depresyonu %21, anksiyeteyi %19 ve stresi %17 düzeyinde açıklamaktadır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Öztürk, A. S., Seki, T. (2026). The Mediating Role of Doomscrolling in the Relationship Among Fear of Happiness and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in University Students. Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, Cilt: 24 Sayı: 1, 275–294. https://doi.org/10.37217/tebd.1712563

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (46)

  1. Anand, N., Sharma, M. K., Thakur, P. C., Mondal, I., Sahu, M., Singh, P. J., …, & Singh, R. (2022). Doomsurfing and doomscrolling mediate psychological distress in COVID-19 lockdown: Implications for awareness of cognitive biases. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 58(1), 170-172. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppc.12803
  2. Baker, F. B. (2001). The basics of item response theory (2. b.). ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation.
  3. Bedir, M. & Sarı, T. (2023). Mutluluk korkusu ile depresyon, anksiyete ve stres arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi. 24. Uluslararası Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Kongresi içinde (s. 321-331). Türk PDR Derneği.
  4. Belen, H., Yıldırım, M., & Belen, F. S. (2020). Influence of fear of happiness on flourishing: Mediator roles of hope agency and hope pathways. Australian Journal of Psychology, 72(2), 165–173. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12279
  5. Bhargava, D. & Trivedi, H. (2018). A study of causes of stress and stress management among youth. IRA-International Journal of Management & Social Sciences, 11(108), 108-117. https://doi.org/10.21013/jmss.v11.n3.p1
  6. Blasco-Belled, A., Rogoza, R., Alsinet, C., & Torrelles-Nadal, C. (2021). Fear of happiness through the prism of the dual continua model of mental health. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 77(10), 2245-2261. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23165
  7. Buchanan, K., Aknin, L. B., Lotun, S., & Sandstrom, G. M. (2021). Brief exposure to social media during the COVID-19 pandemic: Doom-scrolling has negative emotional consequences, but kindness-scrolling does not. PLOS ONE, 16(10), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257728
  8. Calafiore, C., Collins, A. C., Miller, J. A. M., Watson, J. C., & Winer, E. S. (2024). Examining the unique and interactive impacts of anhedonia and fear of happiness on depressive symptoms. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 15, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2023.100702
  9. Chisholm, A. & Hartman-Caverly, S. (2022). Privacy literacy: From doomscrolling to digital wellness. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 22(1), 53–79. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2022.0009
  10. Collins, A. C., Jordan, D. G., Bartoszek, G., Kilgore, J., Lass, A. N. S., & Winer, E. S. (2023). Longitudinal and experimental investigations of implicit happiness and explicit fear of happiness. Cognition and Emotion, 37(5), 973-989. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2023.2223907
  11. De Vuyst, H.-J., Belmans, E., Takano, K., Depreeuw, B., De Grave, C., & Raes, F. (2023). Fear of happiness and its predictive effect on depressive symptoms in depressed inpatients versus healthy controls. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 13, 100589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2023.100589
  12. Dobos, B., Mellor, D., & Piko, B. F. (2024). Exploring fear of happiness among university students: The role of perfectionism, academic burnout, loneliness, and hopelessness. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 65(3), 559-567. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.13001
  13. Gallagher, M. R., Salem, T., & Winer, E. S. (2024). When hope springs a leak: Aversion to positivity as a key to understanding depressed persons. Current Psychology, 43(8), 7564-7577. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04917-2
  14. George, D. & Mallery, M. (2010). SPSS for windows step by step: A simple guide and reference, 17.0 update (10. b.). Pearson.
  15. Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Catarino, F., Baião, R., & Palmeira, L. (2014). Fears of happiness and compassion in relationship with depression, alexithymia, and attachment security in a depressed sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53(2), 228-244. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12037
  16. Güme, S. (2024). Doomscrolling: A review. Current Approaches in Psychiatry, 16, 595-603. https://doi.org/10.18863/pgy.1416316
  17. Henry, J. D. & Crawford, J. R. (2005). The short‐form version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS‐21): Construct validity and normative data in a large non‐clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44(2), 227-239. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466505X29657
  18. Hayes, A. F. (2022). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (3. b.). Guilford.
  19. Jordan, D. G., Collins, A. C., Dunaway, M. G., Kilgore, J., & Winer, E. S. (2021). Negative affect interference and fear of happiness are independently associated with depressive symptoms. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 77(3), 646-660. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23066
  20. Joshanloo, M. (2013). The influence of fear of happiness beliefs on responses to the satisfaction with life scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(5), 647-651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.11.011
  21. Joshanloo, M. & Weijers, D. (2014). Aversion to happiness across cultures: A review of where and why people are averse to happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(3), 717-735. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9489-9
  22. Karasar, N. (2005). Bilimsel araştırma yöntemi: Kavramlar ilkeler teknikler. Nobel.
  23. Kartol, A., Üztemur, S., & Yaşar, P. (2023). ‘I cannot see ahead’: Psychological distress, doomscrolling and dark future among adult survivors following Mw 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes in Türkiye. BMC Public Health, 23(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17460-3
  24. Kaye, B. K. & Johnson, T. J. (2024). I can’t stop myself! Doomscrolling, conspiracy theories, and trust in social media. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 32(3), 471-483. https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2024.2316844
  25. Lee, H. A., Wan, C., & Yang, Y. (2025). Fear of happiness and emotion regulation: Implications for personal and relational well-being. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 28(1), e12672. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajsp.12672
  26. Mandliya, A., Pandey, J., Hassan, Y., Behl, A., & Alessio, I. (2024). Negative brand news, social media, and the propensity to doomscrolling: Measuring and validating a new scale. International Studies of Management & Organization, 54(2), 137-158. https://doi.org/10.1080/00208825.2023.2301219
  27. Mannell, K. & Meese, J. (2022). From doom-scrolling to news avoidance: Limiting news as a wellbeing strategy during COVID lockdown. Journalism Studies, 23(3), 302-319. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.2021105
  28. Mauss, I. B., Tamir, M., Anderson, C. L., & Savino, N. S. (2011). Can seeking happiness make people unhappy? Paradoxical effects of valuing happiness. Emotion, 11(4), 807–815. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022010
  29. Neijzen, M. (2024). The epistemic value of doombehaviour: Beyond the prudential consequences of doomscrolling, doomchecking, and doomsurfing. Synthese, 203(6), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-024-04602-2
  30. Özdemir, Ş. (2021). Sosyal medya çağında kuşakların medya kullanım alışkanlıklarının incelenmesi. İstanbul Arel Üniversitesi İletişim Çalışmaları Dergisi, 9(20), 281–308. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/isauicder/issue/68023/1004984 sayfasından erişilmiştir.
  31. Price, M., Legrand, A. C., Brier, Z. M. F., van Stolk-Cooke, K., Peck, K., Dodds, P. S., …, & Adams, Z. W. (2022). Doomscrolling during COVID-19: The negative association between daily social and traditional media consumption and mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 14(8), 1338-1346. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001202
  32. Sarıçam, H. (2018). The psychometric properties of Turkish version of Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) in health control and clinical samples. Journal of Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy and Research, 7(1), 19–30. https://doi.org/10.5455/JCBPR.274847
  33. Satıcı, S. A., Göcet-Tekin, E., Deniz, M. E., & Satıcı, B. (2023). Doomscrolling scale: Its association with personality traits, psychological distress, social media use, and wellbeing. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 18(2), 833-847. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-022-10110-7
  34. Shabahang, R., Hwang, H., Thomas, E. F., Aruguete, M. S., McCutcheon, L. E., Orosz, G., …, & Zsila, Á. (2024). Doomscrolling evokes existential anxiety and fosters pessimism about human nature? Evidence from Iran and the United States. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 15, 100438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100438
  35. Shabahang, R., Kim, S., Hosseinkhanzadeh, A. A., Aruguete, M. S., & Kakabaraee, K. (2023). “Give your thumb a break” from surfing tragic posts: Potential corrosive consequences of social media users’ doomscrolling. Media Psychology, 26(4), 460-479. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2022.2157287
  36. Sharma, B., Lee, S. S., & Johnson, B. K. (2022). The dark at the end of the tunnel: Doomscrolling on social media newsfeeds. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 3(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000059
  37. Şar, V., Türk-Kurtça, T., & Öztürk, E. (2018). Fear of happiness among college students: The role of gender, childhood psychological trauma, and dissociation. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 61(4), 389-394. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_52_17
  38. Taşkın, S., Yıldırım-Kurtuluş, H., Satıcı, S. A., & Deniz, M. E. (2024). Doomscrolling and mental well-being in social media users: A serial mediation through mindfulness and secondary traumatic stress. Journal of Community Psychology, 52(3), 512-524. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23111
  39. Teke, E. (2025). Fear of happiness: A systematic review. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 17(4), 745-759. https://doi.org/10.18863/pgy.1589213
  40. Topal, M., Küçük-Avcı, Ş., & İstanbullu, A. (2024). Üniversite öğrencilerinin problemli sosyal medya kullanımının çeşitli değişkenler açısından incelenmesi. Milli Eğitim Dergisi, 53(244), 2013-2044. https://doi.org/10.37669/milliegitim.1260083
  41. Türk, T., Malkoç, A., & Onat-Kocabıyık, O. (2017). Mutluluk Korkusu Ölçeği Türkçe Formu’nun psikometrik özellikleri. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 9(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.18863/pgy.281036
  42. Twenge, J. M., Cooper, A. B., Joiner, T. E., Duffy, M. E., & Binau, S. G. (2019). Age, period, and cohort trends in mood disorder indicators and suicide-related outcomes in a nationally representative dataset, 2005–2017. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128(3), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000410
  43. Wathelet, M., Duhem, S., Vaiva, G., Baubet, T., Habran, E., Veerapa, E., …, & D’Hondt, F. (2020). Factors associated with mental health disorders among university students in France confined during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Network Open, 3(10), e2025591-e2025591. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.25591
  44. Yang, L., Tan, X., Lang, R., Wang, T., & Li, K. (2024). Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the doomscrolling scale and the mediating role of doomscrolling in the bidirectional relationship between insomnia and depression. BMC Psychiatry, 24(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06006-5
  45. Ytre-Arne, B. & Moe, H. (2021). Doomscrolling, monitoring and avoiding: News use in COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Journalism Studies, 22(13), 1739-1755. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.1952475
  46. Zarowski, B., Giokaris, D., & Green, O. (2024). Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students' mental health: A literature review. Cureus, 16(2), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.54032