Scientific evidence on selfitis in medical students: a scoping Review
Abstract
Introduction: Selfitis is conceptualized as an obsessive-compulsive urge to take selfies and post them on social media. Aim: To map the scientific evidence on selfitis in medical students, describing its characteristics, associated factors, and implications for mental health and academic performance. Methodology: A scoping review was conducted following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Results: The study identified that selfitis is associated with low self-esteem, anxiety about appearance, narcissism, and the search for social validation through the compulsive use of social media. Conclusion: Selfitis in medical students is a worrying psychological and academic phenomenon because it is linked to behavioral and emotional factors that affect mental health and academic performance.
Downloads
References
- Kirac R, Erisen MA, Ciftci Kirac F, Uyar S. Selfitis Disease Behavior Scale: Turkish validity and reliability study. ADDICTA Turk J Addict. 2021 May 25;8(1):81–6. doi:10.5152/ADDICTA.2021.21011 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5152/ADDICTA.2021.21011
- Lin CKCY, Imani V, Griffiths MD, Pakpour AH. Evaluation of the Selfitis Behavior Scale across two Persian-speaking countries, Iran and Afghanistan: advanced psychometric testing in a large-scale sample. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2020 Feb 19;18(1):222–35. doi:10.1007/s11469-019-00124-y DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-019-00124-y
- Puthiyakath HH, Anjali R, Angel S, Goswami MP. Selfie syndrome: a study of selfitis and narcissism among young adults. J Creat Commun. 2024 Feb 18. doi:10.1177/09732586231223603 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09732586231223603
- Balakrishnan J, Griffiths MD. An exploratory study of “selfitis” and the development of the Selfitis Behavior Scale. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2018;16(3):722–36. doi:10.1007/s11469-017-9844-x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-017-9844-x
- Anjan Rao P. Exploring correlates of selfitis and narcissism among Indian adolescents. J Psychol Psychother Res. 2020;6(1):67. Disponible en: https://www.primescholars.com/articles/exploring-correlates-of-selfitis-and-narcissism-among-indian-adolescent.pdf
- Begum F. Prevalence of selfitis among nursing personnel in Ranchi. J Pharm Pract Community Med. 2019 Oct 20;5(3):51–3. doi:10.5530/jppcm.2019.3.13 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5530/jppcm.2019.3.13
- Ahmed AN, Balasubramaniam J, Barveen A, Henry JDX. Selfitis affects concentration of higher education students during lecture hours. En: 2019 International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Knowledge Economy (ICCIKE). IEEE; 2019. p. 746–51. doi:10.1109/ICCIKE47802.2019.9004260 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCIKE47802.2019.9004260
- Ciplak E, Atici M. The Selfitis Behavior Scale: an adaptation study. Eur J Educ Sci. 2021 Jun 30;8(2):29–41. doi:10.19044/ejes.v8no2a29 DOI: https://doi.org/10.19044/ejes.v8no2a29
- Gökler M, Turan Ş. Determining validity and reliability of Turkish version of Selfitis Behavior Scale. J Cogn Psychother Res. 2020;1:1–7. doi:10.5455/JCBPR.60125 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5455/JCBPR.60125
- Oppong D, Adjaottor ES, Addo FM, Nyaledzigbor W, Ofori-Amanfo AS, Chen HP, et al. The mediating role of selfitis in the associations between self-esteem, problematic social media use, problematic smartphone use, body-self appearance, and psychological distress among young Ghanaian adults. Healthcare (Basel). 2022;10(12):2500. doi:10.3390/healthcare10122500 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10122500
- Behera P, Singh AK, Bhatia V, Preeti PS, Kumar R, Das S, et al. Prevalence and determinants of the dangerous selfie among medical and nursing students: a cross-sectional study from eastern India. BMC Public Health. 2020 Dec 6;20(1):628. doi:10.1186/s12889-020-08785-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08785-4
- Arksey H, O’Malley L. Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. Int J Soc Res Methodol. 2005;8(1):19–32. doi:10.1080/1364557032000119616 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000119616
- Levac D, Colquhoun H, O’Brien KK. Scoping studies: advancing the methodology. Implement Sci. 2010;5(1):69. doi:10.1186/1748-5908-5-69 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-5-69
- Ramesh-Masthi NR, Phaneendra MS. A comparative study on social media usage and health status among students studying in pre-university colleges of urban Bengaluru. Indian J Community Med. 2018;43(1):180–4. doi:10.4103/ijcm.IJCM DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_285_17
- Nagaraju R, Chikkegowda LK. Selfie: a rising culture. Assessment of selfitis and its relation with self-esteem among medical and nursing students: a cross-sectional study. Natl J Community Med. 2019;10(5):285–9. doi:10.33546/njcm.2750
- Koç A, Gökler ME, Bilgehan T. Üniversite öğrencilerinde sosyal medya bağımlılığı ve takıntılı özçekim davranışının sosyal medya kullanım sıklığı bakımından karşılaştırılması. Neuropsychiatr Investig. 2019;57(4):15–20. doi:10.5455/NYS.20200422065418 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5455/NYS.20200422065418
- Chaudhari B, Patil J, Kadiani A, Chaudhury S, Saldanha D. Correlation of motivations for selfie-posting behavior with personality traits. Indian Psychiatry J. 2019;28(1):123–7. doi:10.4103/ipj.ipj_30_19 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ipj.ipj_30_19
- Siddharth AR, Shiny CN, Nesan GQ, Jain T. Assessment of selfie addiction and selfitis among allied health sciences students of a tertiary care hospital in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Int J Res Pharm Sci. 2020 Sep 22;11(SPL2):308–13. doi:10.26452/ijrps.v11iSPL2.3095 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26452/ijrps.v11iSPL2.3095
- Ravi Varma D, Sarada K, Radha Rani S. A study on “selfitis”, selfie addiction among medical students. IOSR J Dent Med Sci. 2020;19(3):58–61. doi:10.9790/0853-1903035861
- Gaddala A, Kumar H, Rajamouli KJ, Pusphalatha C. A study on various effects of internet and selfie dependence among undergraduate medical students. J Cont Med A Dent. 2017;5(2):29–32. Disponible en: https://journals.indexcopernicus.com/api/file/viewByFileId/458944.pdf
- Nath S, Kumar R, Nath M. Assessment of selfie addiction among undergraduate medical students. Indian J Community Health. 2022 Dec 31;34(4):489–94. doi:10.47203/IJCH.2022.v34i04.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47203/IJCH.2022.v34i04.007
- El Adgham AR, Ibrahim IMA, Elkalla IHR, El Hadidy MA. Assessing the prevalence and psychological correlates of selfie addiction in Mansoura Medical School students: a cross-sectional study. Middle East Curr Psychiatry. 2023;30(1):96. doi:10.1186/s43045-023-00370-w DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00370-w
- Hegde R, Pavan Kumar K, Sanjay Kini B, Thayil LM, Answar RR, Holla A. Selfitis and its relationship with self-esteem, appearance anxiety and narcissistic personality trait among medical students of Coastal Karnataka. Online J Health Allied Sci. 2024;23(3):23–6. Disponible en: https://www.ojhas.org/issue91/2024-3-7.html
- Olabisi OI, Adebisi O, Ejidokun A, Makinde A, Awotunde T, Esan D. Selfitis and body image satisfaction among undergraduates in a Nigerian private university. Int J Africa Nurs Sci. 2024;20:100665. doi:10.1016/j.ijans.2024.100665 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2024.100665
- Baskaran M, Jacob R, Jeyadeepa R, Raghuthaman G, Jayasudha A. Mental health issues linked to selfie addiction among South Indian college students. Bioinformation. 2025;21(1):1–5. doi:10.6026/973206300210001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.6026/973206300210001
- Abdelaziz MN, Moustafa ARA, Azzam H, Bshar AM, Ismail IS, Elhadidy OY. Association between beauty standards shaped by social media and body dysmorphia among Egyptian medical students. Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 15;15(1):12976. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-95617-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-95617-3
- Aslan S, Yeşiltepe A, Bülbüloğlu S. Investigating the selfitis behaviors and self-esteem of nursing and medical technology students. J Subst Use. 2023 Sep 3;28(5):803–8. doi:10.1080/14659891.2023.2239336 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2023.2239336
- Hassan SW, Javed A. Hypersensitive narcissism, social media usage, and selfitis behavior among university students: mediating role of self-esteem. Clin Couns Psychol Rev. 2023 Dec 28;5(2):1–22. doi:10.32350/ccpr.52.01 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32350//ccpr.52.01
- Zaman FTZB, Rathi SR, Hoq M, Sarker J, Arabi S, Hasan T. Selfitis behavior as predictor of psychological distress among students of Dhaka City. Jagannath Univ J Life Earth Sci. 2024 May 16;9(2):133–46. doi:10.3329/jnujles.v9i2.72920 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/jnujles.v9i2.72920
- Paracha SR. Association between selfitis and mental well-being among academic professionals of Karachi. Pak J Rehabil. 2020 Nov 24;9(1):35–40. doi:10.36283/pjr.zu.9.1/005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.36283/pjr.zu.9.1/005
- Yamada Y, Klugar M, Ivanova K, Oborna I. Psychological distress and academic self-perception among international medical students: the role of peer social support. BMC Med Educ. 2014 Dec 28;14(1):256. doi:10.1186/s12909-014-0256-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-014-0256-3
- Xu T, Zhu P, Ji Q, Wang W, Qian M, Shi G. Psychological distress and academic self-efficacy of nursing undergraduates under the normalization of COVID-19: multiple mediating roles of social support and mindfulness. BMC Med Educ. 2023 May 17;23(1):348. doi:10.1186/s12909-023-04288-z DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04288-z
Published 2025-10-01
Keywords
- Selfitis,
- Medical students,
- Associated factors,
- Mental health,
- Academic performance
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2025 Los autores que publiquen en la revista Multidisciplinaria Investigación Contemporánea aceptan los siguientes términos: 1. Los autores mantienen sus derechos de autor (copyright) y otorgan a la revista Multidisciplinaria Investigación Contemporánea el derecho de la primera publicación de su trabajo, bajo una licencia Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Esta licencia permite que terceros utilicen el contenido publicado, siempre que se mencione la autoría y la primera publicación en esta revista. 2. Los autores pueden establecer acuerdos adicionales para la distribución no exclusiva de la versión publicada de su artículo en otros lugares, como repositorios institucionales, siempre y cuando se indique claramente que el trabajo fue publicado por primera vez en esta revista. 3. Los autores conservan sus derechos de autor (copyright) y garantizan a la revista Multidisciplinaria Investigación Contemporánea el derecho a publicar el manuscrito a través de los canales que considere apropiados. 4. Se permite y se recomienda a los autores compartir su trabajo en línea (por ejemplo, en repositorios institucionales o páginas web personales), una vez que el manuscrito haya sido aceptado para su publicación. Esto puede conducir a intercambios productivos y a una mayor y más rápida citación del trabajo publicado. Detalle de Licencia CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Usted es libre de: Compartir — copiar y redistribuir el material en cualquier medio o formato para cualquier propósito, incluso comercialmente. Adaptar — remezclar, transformar y construir a partir del material para cualquier propósito, incluso comercialmente. La licenciante no puede revocar estas libertades en tanto usted siga los términos de la licencia Bajo los siguientes términos: Atribución — Usted debe dar crédito de manera adecuada , brindar un enlace a la licencia, e indicar si se han realizado cambios . Puede hacerlo en cualquier forma razonable, pero no de forma tal que sugiera que usted o su uso tienen el apoyo de la licenciante. No hay restricciones adicionales — No puede aplicar términos legales ni medidas tecnológicas que restrinjan legalmente a otras a hacer cualquier uso permitido por la licencia.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.



