Health-promoting behavior among undergraduate students in the COVID-19 era: Its association with problematic use of social media, social isolation, and online health information-seeking behavior

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between problematic use of social media, online health information-seeking, social isolation, and health-promoting behaviors among Korean undergraduate students. METHODS: In total, 178 undergraduate students participated in this study. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: Predictors of health-promoting behaviors included overall time spent on social media, problematic social media use, social isolation, and online information-seeking, explaining 33.5 % of the variance in health-promoting behaviors. CONCLUSION: Prolonged social media use and social isolation negatively affected undergraduate students' health-promoting behaviors, while online information-seeking positively affected them. Nurses should assist young adults in improving health-promoting behaviors by preventing problematic social media uses, reducing social isolation, and strengthening their online health information-seeking ability.