Table 2.
Mental well-being attributes and social media platform usage of participants who do and do not use these tools for their mental health needs (N=101).
| Social media for mental health disclosure and supporta | Used | Did not use | ||||
| Academic background, n (%) | ||||||
|
|
Undergraduateb | 82 (82) | 82 (72) | |||
|
|
Graduateb | 17 (17) | 27 (27) | |||
|
|
Engineering or computing major | 59 (59) | 42 (42) | |||
| Mental well-being scores, mean (SD) | ||||||
|
|
Positive affectc (CATd) | 16.6 (3.9) | 23.1 (2.6) | |||
|
|
Negative affectc (CAT) | 31.8 (7.4) | 24.9 (3.5) | |||
|
|
Homesicknessc (CAT) | 24.5 (5.3) | 18.7 (3.8) | |||
|
|
Overall adjustmentb (CAT) | 79.4 (10.7) | 83.5 (9.1) | |||
|
|
Self-esteemc | 18.6 (5.5) | 29.8 (3.4) | |||
|
|
Perceived Stress Scalec | 25.5 (5.4) | 16.8 (6.5) | |||
|
|
General Anxiety Disorder-7e | 9.3 (4.6) | 5.1 (4.3) | |||
|
|
Emotional or informational supportb | 2.2 (0.5) | 3.4 (0.9) | |||
|
|
Tangible supportb | 3.1(0.7) | 3.7 (0.4) | |||
|
|
Affectionate supportb | 2.9 (0.8) | 3.5 (0.7) | |||
|
|
Positive social interactions | 3.6 (0.5) | 4.1 (0.3) | |||
|
|
Medical outcomes study b | 2.9 (0.6) | 3.6 (0.7) | |||
| Platform use, n (%) | ||||||
|
|
66 (66) | 69 (69) | ||||
|
|
40 (40) | 42 (42) | ||||
|
|
Snapchatb | 44 (44) | 33 (33) | |||
|
|
Instagramb | 41 (41) | 32 (32) | |||
|
|
YikYakd | 41 (41) | 24 (24) | |||
|
|
Redditc | 36 (36) | 21 (21) | |||
|
|
Tumblrd | 37 (37) | 18 (18) | |||
| Characteristics of social media use, n (%) | ||||||
|
|
Time spent on social media (hours/day) | |||||
|
|
|
4-6d | 55 (55) | 37 (37) | ||
|
|
|
1-3c | 26 (26) | 43 (43) | ||
| Purpose of social media use, n (%) | ||||||
|
|
Communicating with friends, familyb | 68 (68) | 56 (56) | |||
|
|
Staying updated on friends’ activitiesd | 41 (41) | 76 (75) | |||
|
|
Finding people (old friends, classmates)c | 33 (33) | 58 (57) | |||
|
|
Instant access to information on social mediac | 21 (21) | 48 (48) | |||
| Connection strategy (FBIf), mean (SD) | ||||||
|
|
Initiationb | 1.9 (0.9) | 3.2 (0.6) | |||
|
|
Social information–seekingc | 3.8 (0.5) | 2.2 (0.7) | |||
|
|
Maintainingb | 2.3 (0.8) | 4.1 (0.7) | |||
aDifferences are statistically significant based on Mann-Whitney U tests followed by false discovery rate correction for multiple pairwise comparisons.
bP<.05.
cP<.01.
dCAT: College Adjustment Test.
eP<.001.
fFBI: Facebook Intensity Scale.