Depression among Users of Social Networking Sites (SNSs): The Role of SNS Addiction and Increased Usage

By E. Kuss. 2017

114 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Background: Previous literature suggests that increased usage of social networking sites (SNSs) can have a detrimental effect on mental wellbeing [1,2]. Furthermore, increased SNS usage has been found to result in the development of a new behavioral addiction: SNS addiction [3]. This new form of addiction to social networking is shown to predict depression in users of SNSs [4,5]. Objective: As the rates of people who use SNSs are rising, the current study aimed to identify relationships between SNS usage, SNS addiction and depression, with a focus on SNSs used today that have not been researched before, namely Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. Methods: A cross-sectional online study was conducted on a sample of 103 young adults. Each participant filled out a questionnaire consisting of the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression Scale Revised (CESD-R), Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT), along with general questions relating to SNS use. Results: The results of the current study suggest that Instagram use (β = .24, p ≤ .05) and SNS addiction (β = .32, p = .001) were significant predictors of depression. The results also showed that Instagram use predicted SNS addiction (β = .22, p < .05). No such relationship existed between Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat and SNS addiction or depression. Conclusion: The results indicated that both Instagram use and SNS addiction were related to depression, and that Instagram use was related to SNS addiction. Results are explained from a uses and gratifications perspective. Further research using longitudinal designs is needed to establish the direction of this relationship.

Subfields: Education, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/184c63a825e4518e75da7f01e0dac6282b3402da

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  1. Courtney Lipson
  2. Jordyn Young
  3. R. Marx
  4. M. Hunt
  5. Jeffrey A. Hall

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