New Publication: SMUFA- A functional approach to social media assessment
We are pleased to share a new publication from the LOL lab in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis: “A Functional Approach to Social Media Assessment: Initial Psychometric Evaluation of the Social Media Use Functional Assessment” (Malkin et al., 2026).
Social media use has become a routine part of daily life for most people. While it can support connection and access to information, it is also increasingly associated with concerns such as sleep disruption, reduced well-being, and patterns that resemble behavioural addiction. Much of the existing research has focused on how often people use social media or how it affects their lives. However, these approaches often overlook a more fundamental question: what purpose does social media use serve for the individual?
Understanding the function of behaviour is essential. The same rates of use of social media can be maintained by very different outcomes, depending on the individual and their context. The Social Media Use Functional Assessment (SMUFA) addresses this gap by shifting the focus from frequency of use to the underlying reasons people engage with social media.
The SMUFA is a brief questionnaire designed to identify the reinforcing functions of social media use. It examines whether behaviour is primarily maintained by social attention (i.e., seeking interaction or feedback from others); escape (i.e., avoiding stress or negative thoughts); or by access to reinforcing stimuli (i.e., engaging visual content or information).
In this study, the SMUFA was administered to a sample of 357 university students; psychometric analyses were conducted to evaluate its structure and validity. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, original 20-item measure was refined into a more efficient 12-item version. The results supported a three-factor structure consisting of attention, escape, and a combined sensory and tangible category. This revised model demonstrated improved fit and clearer organization of items compared to the initial version.
The study also found moderate to strong correlations between the SMUFA and widely used measures of problematic use, suggesting that the SMUFA is capturing meaningful aspects of social media use. The escape function showed the strongest association with indicators of problematic use, indicating that individuals who use social media to avoid negative experiences may be at greater risk for harmful use patterns. At the same time, many participants endorsed more than one function, highlighting that social media use is often influenced by multiple sources of reinforcement.
These findings distinguish that problematic social media use cannot be understood solely in terms of time spent online. Instead, the function of that use appears to be a key factor in determining whether it becomes disruptive or harmful. Two individuals may spend similar amounts of time on social media, but experience very different outcomes depending on the role that behaviour plays in their lives.
Rather than focusing exclusively on reducing screen time, this functional approach allows for strategies that directly address the maintaining variables of behaviour. For example, if social media use is driven by avoidance, interventions may focus on building tolerance for difficult experiences and increasing engagement with meaningful offline activities. In other cases, alternative sources of reinforcement or social connection may be more relevant. This individualized approach aligns with established principles in clinical behaviour analysis and may increase the effectiveness of efforts to reduce problematic use.
This study represents an initial step in validating the SMUFA as a tool for both research and applied settings. Future work will extend this line of research by examining the measure across more diverse populations, comparing it with real-time behavioural data, and evaluating its utility in guiding intervention. As social media continues to play an important role in modern life, understanding the functions of use will be essential for developing nuanced, evidence-based approaches to support well-being.
Congrats to our Lab Director, Albert Malkin, lab alumni, Aly Moscovitz and Kristina Axenova, and their team for this recognition!
Reference
Malkin, A., Rzeszutek, M. J., Moscovitz, A., Axenova, K., Walker, E., Randhawa, A., & Gunnarsson, K. F. (2026). A functional approach to social media assessment: Initial psychometric evaluation of the Social Media Use Functional Assessment. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.70062
