University of Twente Student Theses

The relationship between social media use, the personality trait neuroticism and depression : the mediating effect of neuroticism on the relationship between social media use and depression.

Bohlouli, Sanaz (2018) The relationship between social media use, the personality trait neuroticism and depression : the mediating effect of neuroticism on the relationship between social media use and depression.

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Abstract:	Background. Social media use is integrated in the daily routine of about one third of the world population. That is why it is important to understand the negative effects of social media use like fear, low self-esteem, stress and depression on individuals psychological well-being. Further, certain personalities seems to be associated with negative effects of social media use than others. Neuroticism seems to be related to depressive symptoms due to using social media. In this current study, the relationship between social media use, neuroticism and depression is studied. More precisely, if neuroticism mediates the relationship between social media use and depression. Methods. Through a cross-sectional online survey-based design, the relationship of social media use, neuroticism and depression is explored. 228 respondents were selected and among those were 173 (75,9%) female and 55 (24,1%) males between the age of 18 to 45 (M=21.22, SD=2.82). Respondents were asked about the time they daily spend on social media. Further, respondents also had to fill in the Beck's Depression Inventory and the subscale neuroticism out of the Big Five Inventory questionnaire. Results. Findings showed, that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between social media use, neuroticism and depression. Furthermore, findings also showed that neuroticism is operating as a mediator between the relationship of social media use and depression. Conclusion and discussion. With neuroticism, possibly one underlying mechanism through which social media use is associated with depression is discovered. A conscious usage of social media to protect mental health is an important topic in our society. To protect oneself from negative influences of social media use, it seems to be important to know about one’s own personality and how the usage of social media could have an impact on our psychological well-being. Possible risks that time spending on social media could have on one's psychological well-being and specially on people with the personality trait neuroticism could be suffering from depressive symptoms and suffering from the consequences of low self-esteem. Keywords: Social media, neuroticism, depression, mental health.
Item Type:	Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	77 psychology
Programme:	Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/76118
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