Association between Facebook Use, Depression and Family Satisfaction: A Cross-Sectional Study of Romanian Youth
Abstract
Background: In recent years, Facebook has increasingly become an essential part of the lives of people, particularly youths, thus many research efforts have been focused on investigating the potential connection between social networking and mental health issues. This study aimed to examine the relationship between Facebook use, emotional state of depression, and family satisfaction.
Methods: This study used the online survey created in Google Docs on the Facebook ‘wall’, as research method. The survey was available during Jun-Jul 2015 in Romania. In our cross-sectional study on a sample of 708 young Facebook users (aged 13-35), we divided the sample into 3 groups: ordinary, middle, and intense Facebook users. Materials and instruments: the survey comprised a series of basic demographic as well as some measures of Facebook addiction, depression, and family satisfaction. We used two methods connected with extensive Facebook usage, the first one measuring only the intensity of use, and the second one measuring not only the intensity but also the consequences of this use.
Results: Facebook engagement is negatively related to family satisfaction. Moreover, Facebook engagement is positively related to depression symptoms. The Pearson correlations showed that higher Facebook intensity is positively associated with Facebook addiction.
Conclusion: The study confirm previously published findings of other authors in the fields of social networking psychology. The study examined the relationship between Facebook use, depression, and life satisfaction and the hypotheses were supported.
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36. Kabasakal Z (2015). Life satisfaction and family functions as-predictors of prob-lematic Internet use in university students. Comput Human Behav, 53: 294-304.
37. Moreau A, Laconi S, Delfour M, Chabrol H (2015). Psychopathological profiles of adolescent and young adult problematic Facebook users. Comput Human Behav, 44: 64-69.
38. Turow J (2001). Family boundaries, com-mercialism, and the Internet: A frame-work for research. J Appl Develop Psychol, 22(1):73-86.
39. Kross E, Verduyn P, Demiralp E, et al (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PLoS One, 8(8):e69841.
2. Facebook (2017). Key facts. Available from: https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/
3. Facebrands (2017). Demographic data Face-book users Romania. Available from: http://www.facebrands.ro/demografice.html
4. Ellison N, Steinfield C, Lampe C (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends”: so-cial capital and college students’ use of online social networking sites. J Comput Mediat Commun, 12(4): 1143-1168.
5. Yang CC; Brown BB (2013). Motives for Using Facebook, Patterns of Facebook Activities, and Late Adolescents’ Social Adjustment to College. J Youth Adolesc, 42 (3): 403-16.
6. Iordache DD, Pribeanu C, Lamanauskas V, Raguliene L (2015). Usage of Facebook by University Students in Romania and Lithuania: A Comparative Study. Informati-ca Economica, 19 (1): 46-54.
7. Błachnio A, Przepiorka A, Pantic L (2016). Association between Facebook Addic-tion, Self-esteem and Life Satisfaction: A Cross-sectional Study. Comput Human Behav, 55: 701-705.
8. O’Keeffe GS, Clarke-Pearson K (2011). The impact of social media on children, ado-lescents, and families. Pediatrics, 127 (4): 800-4.
9. Kraut R, Patterson M, Lundmark V, et al (1998). Internet paradox: a social tech-nology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? Am Psychol, 53 (9): 1017-31.
10. Moreno MA, Jelenchick LA, Egan KG, et al (2011). Feeling Bad on Facebook: De-pression Disclosures by College Students on A Social Networking Site. Depress Anx-iety, 28 (6): 447-55.
11. Wright KB, Rosenberg J, Egbert N, et al (2013). Communication competence, so-cial support, and depression among col-lege students: A model of Facebook and face-to-face support network influence. J Health Commun, 18(1): 41–57.
12. Hong FY, Huang DH, Lin HY, Chiu SL (2014). Analysis of the psychological traits, Facebook usage, and Facebook ad-diction model of Taiwanese university students. Telematics and Informatics, 31: 597–606.
13. Koc M, Gulyagci S (2013). Facebook addic-tion among Turkish college students: The role of psychological health, demograph-ic, and usage characteristics. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw, 16(4): 279–84.
14. Jelenchick LA, Eickhoff JC, Moreno MA (2013). “Facebook Depression?” Social Networking Site Use and Depression in Older Adolescents. J Adolesc Health, 52 (1): 128-30.
15. Tandoc EC, Ferruci P, Duffy M (2015). Fa-cebook use, envy, and depression among college students: is facebooking depress-ing? Comput Human Behav, 43: 139-146.
16. Selfhout MHW, Branje SJT, Delsing M, et al (2009). Different types of Internet use, depression, and social anxiety: the role of perceived friendship quality. J Adolesc, 32(4): 819-33.
17. Kraut R, Kiesler S, Boneva B, et al (2002). Internet paradox revisited. Journal of Social Issues, 58: 49-74.
18. Carvalho J, Francisco R, Relvas AP (2015). Family functioning and information and communication technologies: How do they relate? A literature review. Comput Human Behav, 45: 99-108.
19. Andrioni F (2011). The socio-economic ef-fects of Romanian parents’ emigration on their children’s destiny. Annals of the Uni-versity of Petroşani, Economics, 11(4): 5-12 .
20. Yen JY, Yen CF, Chen CC, et al (2007). Family factors of internet addiction and substance use experience in Taiwanese adolescents. Cyberpsychol Behav, 10(3): 323-9.
21. Huisman S, Edwards A, Catapano S (2012). The impact of technology on families. International Journal of Education and Psychology in the Community IJEPC, 2(1): 44-62.
22. Mesch GS (2006). Family relations and the internet: Exploring a family boundaries approach. J Fam Commun, 6(2): 119-138.
23. Sharaievska I, Stodolska M (2017). Family satisfaction and social networking leisure.
Journal Leisure Studies, 36 (2): 231-243.
24. Lanigan JD (2009). A Sociotechnological model for family research and interven-tion: How information and communica-tion technologies affect family life. Marriage & Family Review, 45(6-8):587-609.
25. Andreassen CS, Torsheim T, Brunborg GS, Pallesen S (2012). Development of a Fa-cebook Addiction Scale. Psychol Rep, 110(2): 501-17.
26. Pontes HM, Andreassen CS, Griffiths MD (2016). Portuguese Validation of the Ber-gen Facebook Addiction Scale: an Empir-ical Study. Int J Ment Health Addict, 14 (6): 1062-1073.
27. Uysal R, Satici SA, Akin A (2013). Mediating Effect of Facebook Addiction on the Re-lationship between Subjective Vitality and Subjective Happiness. Psychol Rep, 113 (3): 948-53.
28. AUTHOR (2010). Depresia la persoanele vârst-nice. Editura Excelsior Art, Timişoara.
29. Barraca J, López-Yarto L, Olea L (2000). Psychometric Properties of a New Family Life Satisfaction Scale. Eur J Psychol Ass, 16 (2): 98-106.
30. Nave F, de Jesús SN, Mairal JB, Parreira P (2007). Adaptación de la Escala de Satis-facción Familiar por Adjetivos (ESFA) a la población portuguesa. (Adaptation of the Family Satisfaction by Adjectives Scale (FSAS) to the Portuguese population). Ansiedad y Estrés, 13: 111-120.
31. Quintanilla GT, Sotomayor MDDL, Her-nández OM, et al (2013). Family Satisfac-tion by Adjectives Scale (FSAS) in Mexi-can Children and Adolescents: Norma-tive data. Salud Mental, 36(5):381-386.
32. Tasdelen-Karçkay A (2016). Family Life Sat-isfaction Scale-Turkish Version: Psycho-metric Evaluation. Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal, 44 (4): 631-640.
33. McCrae N, Gettings S, Purssell E (2017). Social Media and Depressive Symptoms in Childhood and Adolescence: A Sys-tematic Review. Adolesc Res Rev, 315–330.
34. Chelsey N (2005). Blurring boundaries? Linking technology use, spillover, indi-vidual distress, and family satisfaction. J Marriage Fam, 67(5): 1237-1248.
35. Watkins SC (2009). The young and the digital: What the migration to social-network sites, games, and anytime, anywhere media means for our fu-ture. ed. MA: Beacon Press, Boston.
36. Kabasakal Z (2015). Life satisfaction and family functions as-predictors of prob-lematic Internet use in university students. Comput Human Behav, 53: 294-304.
37. Moreau A, Laconi S, Delfour M, Chabrol H (2015). Psychopathological profiles of adolescent and young adult problematic Facebook users. Comput Human Behav, 44: 64-69.
38. Turow J (2001). Family boundaries, com-mercialism, and the Internet: A frame-work for research. J Appl Develop Psychol, 22(1):73-86.
39. Kross E, Verduyn P, Demiralp E, et al (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PLoS One, 8(8):e69841.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 49 No 11 (2020) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v49i11.4728 | |
| PMCID | PMC7917515 | |
| PMID | 33708731 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Social media; Facebook Youth Health outcomes Family satisfaction | ||
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
How to Cite
1.
IOVU M, RUNCAN R, RUNCAN P-L, ANDRIONI F. Association between Facebook Use, Depression and Family Satisfaction: A Cross-Sectional Study of Romanian Youth. Iran J Public Health. 2020;49(11):2111-2119.
