BIO

I am a sophomore from St. Petersburg Florida. I have always been interested in clinical psychology, however, research was not on my radar until I entered the UROP program. Due to this opportunity, I have found that I really enjoy research and I would like to further my understanding of the field. The kind of research I would like to do next is to work with a lab that focuses on both clinical psychology and neuroscience.

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN COLLEGE STUDENTS.

Abstract

Social media is an important aspect of most college students’ lives. Previous research has indicated that social media use may be a correlate and cause of depressive symptoms; however, little is known about what specific aspects of social media use drives this relationship. The present study utilized data previously reported in Wick and Keel (2020) to determine how various aspects of social media use relate to depressive symptoms in college students. Participants included N=80 college students (93% female) who completed self-report surveys that measured depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) and patterns of social media use, with a focus on Instagram. Results indicated that having a public Instagram account, caring about comments on one’s social media photos, taking photos for the sole purpose of posting them on social media, frequently deleting photos on social media, and experiencing discomfort posting unedited photos of oneself on social media were positively correlated with depressive symptoms in college students. Correlation effect sizes ranged from small to medium (r = .26 to .32). Results highlight aspects of social media use that may be problematic due to their association with increased depressive symptoms. Future research should examine the direction of these associations through extension to longitudinal and experimental designs.

Keywords: Social Media & Depression