SOMEDIS-A -- Social Media Use Disorder Scale for Adolescents

SOMEDIS-A is meant for adolescents themselves (ages 10-17) and adapts the ICD-11 criteria for Gaming Disorder to social media use. It covers two separate areas -- cognitive-behavioral symptoms (e.g. loss of control, neglecting daily duties) and negative consequences (e.g. relationship or school problems) -- plus how often such difficulties occurred over the past year.

This questionnaire is meant for adolescents themselves and is for self-reflection only. It does not constitute a clinical diagnosis or a child/adolescent psychiatric or psychological assessment. If you're concerned about your own or a child's/teenager's media use, it's also worth talking with someone you trust and, if needed, a child and adolescent mental health professional.

Important for interpretation

SOMEDIS-A isn't scored as a single sum -- the original study combines three separate criteria: if BOTH factor cutoffs (cognitive-behavioral symptoms AND negative consequences) are reached AND the time criterion shows this happens over longer periods or almost daily, the original study considers this a sign of social media use disorder. Reaching only the cognitive-behavioral symptoms cutoff suggests at-risk use with a higher chance of future negative consequences. Reaching only the negative consequences cutoff may point to other difficulties not directly tied to social media use, worth looking at separately. Reaching both factor cutoffs without meeting the time criterion is read by the authors as at-risk use worth continuing to monitor.

10 statements · ~3 min

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