College Students’ Experience with Social Media, Depression, and Divorced Parents
Location
Online - Session 1D
Start Date
4-21-2021 10:30 AM
Major Field of Study
Psychology
Student Type
Undergraduate
Faculty Mentor(s)
Veronica Fruiht, Phd
Presentation Format
Poster Presentation
Abstract/Description
Although we all seem to love to scroll, social media addiction is an alarming phenomenon where other psychological problems can be manifested. Addictive behavior towards social media, in general, is associated with negative psychological characteristics (Medrano & Lopez-Rosales, 2018). While social media has been seen to cause negative psychological effects on mental health, so does having divorced parents (Sourander & Helstela, 2005; Thomas & Hognas, 2015). Such negative effects can include social isolation, inability to ask for support in the social network, loneliness and depression (Pereira & Colen, 2019). Another negative effect of social media use includes envy (Meyerberg-Yurga, 2018), and a fear of missing out, also known as “FoMO,” (Baker, et al., 2016). This phenomenon of FoMO appears universally across cultures, and studies have shown that individuals who feel depressed, are more susceptible to FoMO (Baker, et al., 2016). This study utilized a sample of 35 college students, recruited from a small liberal arts college in the San Francisco Bay Area, who took an online survey using Qualtrics.com. The survey provided to participants consisted of questions that are designed to assess social media usage, experience of FoMO, parental marital status during childhood, and personality. Potential causes of depression, such as having divorced parents, increase the likelihood of FoMO and other negative emotions such as depression and envy, leading this study to predict that college students with divorced parents will report more FoMO and depression than those with married parents. It is also predicted that social media use will be positively correlated with FoMO and depression. Therefore, the present study hypothesized that the relationship between social media use, FOMO and depression will be stronger among those with divorced parents than those with married parents.
College Students’ Experience with Social Media, Depression, and Divorced Parents
Online - Session 1D
Although we all seem to love to scroll, social media addiction is an alarming phenomenon where other psychological problems can be manifested. Addictive behavior towards social media, in general, is associated with negative psychological characteristics (Medrano & Lopez-Rosales, 2018). While social media has been seen to cause negative psychological effects on mental health, so does having divorced parents (Sourander & Helstela, 2005; Thomas & Hognas, 2015). Such negative effects can include social isolation, inability to ask for support in the social network, loneliness and depression (Pereira & Colen, 2019). Another negative effect of social media use includes envy (Meyerberg-Yurga, 2018), and a fear of missing out, also known as “FoMO,” (Baker, et al., 2016). This phenomenon of FoMO appears universally across cultures, and studies have shown that individuals who feel depressed, are more susceptible to FoMO (Baker, et al., 2016). This study utilized a sample of 35 college students, recruited from a small liberal arts college in the San Francisco Bay Area, who took an online survey using Qualtrics.com. The survey provided to participants consisted of questions that are designed to assess social media usage, experience of FoMO, parental marital status during childhood, and personality. Potential causes of depression, such as having divorced parents, increase the likelihood of FoMO and other negative emotions such as depression and envy, leading this study to predict that college students with divorced parents will report more FoMO and depression than those with married parents. It is also predicted that social media use will be positively correlated with FoMO and depression. Therefore, the present study hypothesized that the relationship between social media use, FOMO and depression will be stronger among those with divorced parents than those with married parents.