Social Media Engagement and Mental Health: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Social media is a digital phenomenon embraced by billions worldwide. It provides users with an easy way to engage and connect with others without meeting face-to-face. It has become an omnipresent part of everyday life. Use of social media platform has the potential to generate a number of benefits including the well-being from enhanced social connectedness and social capital accumulation, but is also associated with several negative behaviours and impacts on our life. This research explores social media use and its relationship with mental health. The sample comprised of 100 participants. To assess the social media engagement and mental health of the participants two questionnaires were distributed. Mean, SD, t-test and correlation coefficients were calculated. It was found that the social media engagement of both genders was positively correlated with significant mental health domains (i.e., anxiety and depression) which may lead to serious issues in the long run as the users tend to be young people who use social media sites more frequently on a daily basis.

Full text

Indian Social & Psychological Studies (ISSN : 0974-634X), Vol.- 15, No.- 1 & 2, March & September 2022
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Social Media Engagement and Mental Health: An Empirical Study
Vandana Maurya
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
College of Commerce, Arts & Science, Patna
Patliputra University, Bihar
Social media is a digital phenomenon embraced by billions worldwide. It provides
users with an easy way to engage and connect with others without meeting face- to-
face. It has become an omnipresent part of everyday life. Use of social media
platform has the potential to generate a number of benefits including the well-being
from enhanced social connectedness and social capital accumulation, but is also
associated with several negative behaviours and impacts on our life. This research
explores social media use and its relationship with mental health. The sample
comprised of 100 participants. To assess the social media engagement and mental
health of the participants two questionnaires were distributed. Mean, SD, t- test and
correlation coefficients were calculated. It was found that the social media
engagement of both genders was positively correlated with significant mental health
domains (i.e., anxiety and depression) which may lead to serious issues in the long
run as the users tend to be young people who use social media sites more frequently
on a daily basis.
Keywords: Social media engagement, mental health, depression, and anxiety.
Human beings are social creatures.
they need the companionship of others to
thrive in life, and the strength of their
connections has a huge impact on their
mental health and happiness. Being socially
connected to others can ease stress,
anxiety, and depression, boost self-worth,
provide comfort and joy, prevent loneliness,
and even add years to the life. On the other
side, lacking strong social connections can
pose a serious risk to peoples mental and
emotional health.
In today‘s world, people rely on
social media platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, WhatsApp,
and Instagram to find and connect with each
other. Social media (SM) is a way to
communicate and share content through
these various technological platforms
(Kaplan &Haenlein, 2010). It is an Internet
based form of Communication.Social Media
is broadly defined as ―forms of electronic
communication through which users create
online communities to share information,
ideas, personal messages, and other
content‖ (Cambridge English Dictionary,
2016). In the past several years, the social
media industry has boomed. In 2020, there
are an estimated 3.8 billion social media
users worldwide, representing half the
global population (We Are Social, 2020).
Statistics show that the extent of time
people spend on social media sites amount
to significantly high rates. On average, 28%
of the time spent using the internet is for
social media interaction (Huang, 2017).
There are many positive ways in
which it can help to stay connected and
support the wellbeing, such as, social media
platforms allow users to have

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conversations, share information and create
web content, enables the users to
communicate and stay up to date with
family and friends around the world.
However, virtual interaction on social media
doesn‘t have the same psychological
benefits as face-to-face contact. Hence, it is
important to remember that social media
can never be a replacement for real-world
human connection. It requires in-person
contact with others to trigger the hormones
that alleviate stress and make people feel
happier, healthier, and more positive.
Ironically for a technology that‘s designed to
bring people closer together, spending too
much time engaging with social media can
actually make people feel lonelier and more
isolated—and exacerbate mental health
problems such as anxiety and depression
(Bagroy, Kumaraguru, & De Choudhury,
2017).
Since it‘s a relatively new
technology, there‘s little research to
establish the long-term consequences, good
or bad, of social media use. However,
multiple studies have found a strong link
between heavy social media use and an
increased risk for depression, anxiety,
loneliness, self- harm, and even suicidal
thoughts.Social media may promote
negative experiences such as: inadequacy
about life or appearance, fear of missing out
(FOMO), isolation, depression and anxiety,
cyberbullying, self-absorption etc (Roberts&
David, 2019).
Social Media Engagement and the Mental
Health of Youth
The social media has become an
integrated part of daily life, with an
estimated 3 billion social media users
worldwide. However, research regarding the
impact of social media on mental health has
produced mixed results. While the risks and
harms of social media are frequently
covered in the popular press and
mainstream news reports, careful
consideration of the research in this area is
necessary. In a review of 43 studies in
young people, many benefits of social
media were cited, including increased self-
esteem and opportunities for self-disclosure
(Best, Manktelow, & Taylor, 2014; Saiphoo,
Halevi, & Vahedi, 2020), yet it further
reported negative effects that includedan
increased exposure to harm, social
isolation, depressive symptoms, and
bullying (Best et al. 2014).
Hence, the science on the role of
social media for engaging people needs a
cautionary note on the effects of social
media usage on mental health and
wellbeing, particularly in adolescents and
young adults.The life of present college-
going students starts and ends with
checking their mobile phones notification on
social networking sites and messaging
apps. Present day youths are highly active
on social media to establish as well grow
their social connections. The strong desire
to check social networking sites very
frequently through smartphones is
becoming accessible to everyone.
According to the latest Association for
University and College CounsellingCentre
Directors Survey (2015), ninety-five percent
of counselling professionals reported that
the number of students with significant
psychological problems is an increasing
issue on their campus. Seventy percent
reported that the number of students with

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severe psychological problems has
increased notably in the previous year. The
survey also concluded that anxiety was the
top presenting concern among college
students, followed by depression and
relationship issues. Health professionals are
deeming this outbreak a ―mental health
epidemic‖ (Rostain, 2016).
The college years are
understandably a stressful and uncertain
time; however, universities are working to
determine why today‘s students are a
concerning anomaly for developing severe
mental health issues. The rise of
uncertainties of globalization, and major
economic concerns have created major
shifts in the overall cultural climate
worldwide. Being immersed in a constant
news cycle and the growth of the internet
itself has created a radically different
childhood than many have previously
experienced. Therefore, this generation of
college students likely has deeply rooted
mental health issues that are exasperated
by the whirlwind of transitioning
academically, socially, and emotionally to
college life (Rasmussen,Punyanunt-Carter,
LaFreniere, Norman, & Kimball, 2020). The
impact of social media in this relationship is
currently undetermined (Brooks, 2015).
People with high engagement on
social media has prompted a flurry of
correlational studies between social media
engagement and its effect on mental health.
Studies have reported that social media and
other networking application like –
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, have
profound effects and results in symptoms
like anxiety, sadness, dissatisfaction, high
chance of suicidal risk outcomes,
depression and stress ((Bagroy,
Kumaraguru, & De Choudhury, 2017; Lin,
Sidani, Shensa, Radovic, Miller, Colditz et
al.,2016; Radovic et al., 2017; Virden,
Trujillo, &Predeger, 2014).
Excessive usage of social media
platforms can detrimentally effect well-being
and an individual‘s psychology specially it
affects youth, adolescents, and children.
Excessive and continuous use of social
networking sites has identified as an
infectious effect on mental well-being and
often arises several mental issues and other
related problems.
Objectives
This study is an attempt to understands the
patterns of social engagement through
social networking sites and its effect on
mental health of students, hence the
following objectives were made:
 To study the patterns of social media
engagement among male and female
participants.
 To study the relationship between social
media engagement and mental health
of the male participants.
 To study the relationship between social
media engagement and mental health
of the female participants.
Hypothesis
H1:The patterns of social media
engagement among male and female
participants will be significantly different.
H2:Social media engagement and mental
health will be positively related for male
participants showing negative relation with
their mental health.
H3:Social media engagement and mental
health will be positively related for the
female participants showing negative

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relation with their mental health.
Method
Participants
The sample was selected of 100
participants using convenient sampling
method. The participants belong to mainly
15 to 24 years of age group. They were
from both gender (male and female). The
26% participants belong to lower level of
education (mainly class10-11) and 74% of
them were belongs to higher level of
education (graduation and above). The 30%
participants were married and 70% of them
unmarried. The 22% participants were
working and 78% of them non-working
(mainly students).
Measures
Social Media Engagement Questionnaire
(SMEQ): This tool was originally developed
by Przybylski, Murayama, DeHann, &
Gladwell (2013) and is used to assess
participants‘ perceptions of the extent of
their social media engagement. By asking
participants questions relating to how
frequently they use SNS at particular times
of the day (i.e. after waking, while eating
lunch), the social media engagement
questionnaire (SMEQ) provides insight into
rates of engagement with SNS. This scale
ranged from 1 (not one day last week) to 8
(every day last week). Scores for each
participant were summed to create a single
social media engagement score. Possible
scores ranged from 5 to 40, with a higher
score indicating more frequent SNS
engagement (α = .82).
PHQ-4: The Patient Health Questionnaire-
4 (PHQ-4) was developed and validated
by Kroenke, Spitzer, Williams, &Löwe,
(2009) in order to address the fact that
anxiety and depression are two of the
most prevalent illnesses among the
general population. Its purpose is to allow
for ultra-brief and accurate measurement
of core symptoms/signs of depression and
anxiety.The four items were introduced by
asking the participants about their
mentalcondition during the past 2 weeks
and had to be rated on a scale ranging
from0 = not at all to 3 = nearly every day.
Two items addressed depression (e.g.
―Feelingdown, depressed, or hopeless‖) and
two items addressed anxiety (e.g. ―Feeling
nervous,anxious, or on edge‖).
Research Design
This study was non-experimental in nature
and followed the cross-sectional quantitative
approach. This approach was adopted in
order to determine whetherthe social media
engagement is related to the mental health
of the youth participants.
Procedure
Data was collected by using questionnaires.
Background information of the respondents
(such as, age, gender, education, marital
status, monthly income, background,
occupation, etc.) were also collected. Good
rapport was established and maintained
throughout the process. To ensure honest
and candid responses confidentiality of
identity and participation was assured. The
paper and pencil format were used in face-
to-face situations. Data collection was done
individually, so that accurate reactions can
be taken up from the participants.
Results
The data wasanalyzed using mean,
SD, t- test and correlationcoefficients which
is illustrated in respective tables. It is
evident from the table 1 that the mean of the

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male group is higher on the social media
engagement as compare to the female
group. However, no significant difference
was found between both the groups asthe t
value was 0.474 which was non- significant
on 0.05 significance level (t= 0.474, p>.05).
Thus, there is no difference among the
mean of both group on the basis of their
patterns of social media engagement
hence, the H1 was not supported.
Table 1: Showing the N, Mean, SD, and t- test of male and female participants on
Social Media Engagement (SME) and PHQ
Groups
N
Mean
SD
t
p value
Male
50
26.22
4.52
.474
p> .05
Female
50
25.80
4.33
*p<.05, **p<01, ***p<.001
Correlation coefficients between
social media engagement and PHQ are
presented in Table-2. It is evident from the
findings that for the male group SMEQ was
found to be significantly positively correlated
with PHQ (r = .6852, p< .05). Furthermore,
SMEQ was also found to be significantly
positively correlated with PHQ (r = .7938, p
< .01) for female group. Thus, H2 and H3 of
the study was supported.
Table 2: Showing Correlation Coefficients between SME and PHQ for Male and Female
participants
Groups
N
PHQ
SME (Male)
50
.6852*
SME (Female)
50
.7938**
*p<.05, **p<01, ***p<.001
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to
explore the relationships between social
media engagement and mental health of the
youth population. Results suggests that
there was no difference between male and
female in terms of their engagement on
social media sites. It can be understood as
the given technological advancement of the
21st century individuals are engaging more
and more on social media platforms and
use it as the main form of communication
with peers and family regardless of gender
differences.
H2 and H3 suggests that both the
gender having positive correlation between
social media engagement and PHQ (patient
health questionnaire) which means that
increased engagement on social media is
related to mental health issues in terms of
anxiety and depression.
In today‘s age where everyone is
immune to the social media context some
people experience anxiety from social
media related to fear of loss, which causes
them try to respond and check all their
friends‘ messages and messages on a
regular basis. The present study shows that
the youth population is (both boys and girls)
highly engaged in social media sitesas they

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reported disturbed sleeping patterns, more
than needed visits to social media and
excessive use of the social sites are
common to them.Still, they don‘t consider it
as the addiction. The study found a general
association between social media use and
mental health issues. These results are
alarming however, there are also positive
evidences for a link between social media
engagement and mental health in some
studies but the opposite has been reported
in this study (Kolhar, Kazi, &Alamee, 2021).
Hence, the research on social media
engagement and mental health is needful
and is in mainstream. However, the
theoretical and empirical studies have been
done till yet are mainly in western
settingsand needs further exploration in
Indian settings (Brooks, 2015; Kolhar, Kazi,
&Alamee, 2021).
In this study it was found that social
media engagement was moderately
positively correlated with anxiety and
depression for the boys‘while highly
positively correlated for the girls. Thus, it
can be said that the use of social media is
related to mental health concern in terms of
anxiety and depression irrespective of their
gender.In other words, it is showing that the
use of social media in any extent is related
to probabilities for precipitating anxiety and
depression, which is a serious concern
because the participants of the study are
the youths of our country. However, the
sample of the study was very small but
taking into the consideration the previous
studies done till yet it is raising
apprehensions about the mental health of
the youth population in near future in Indian
context as well. In today‘s world anxiety and
depression are one of the basic mental
health issues.It was found as the most
commonly measured outcome in recent
studies also. On the basis of results,it can
be concluded that for femalesthe social
media use is highly correlated to anxiety
and depression as compare to the males.
Limitations and Future Research
Suggestions
The present study is much relevant
in the present scenario as it is related to the
youth population and some major
dimensions of their psychological health
which is a major concern nowadays.
However, this study has a very small
sample size and is correlational in nature
therefore the results cannot be generalized
and further investigation is needed to draw
a causal relationship among the variables
studied. Similarly, the role of many other
contributing factors can be investigated to
draw a conclusion between the studied
variables.Moreover, in future the study can
be carried forward in different cities and
work settings. Further, cross- cultural
validations of results are needed to
substantiate these findings.
Implications
This study can provide an insight to
the future studies considering heightened
social media engagement as a major
concern for anxiety and depressive
symptoms among the youth population. The
study is also important for policy makers. As
the youth population of the sample was
mainly belong to the group of students who
are the future of the nation. Hence, this
study can provide some initial outline for the
policy makersabout the engagement on
social networking sites and its impact on

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mental health to frame the policies
accordingly (Gupta & Kumar, 2017).
Conclusion
Nowadays, the college going
population is tend to spend endless hours
on social media for chatting and
entertainment activities unrelated to their
academic activities. They consider it as a
symbol of awareness and freedom of
expression but somehow many studies
reported that spending more time on social
media platforms are not leading to
psychological health benefits.However, the
use of social media for students‘
collaboration and engagementis vital as it
looks into constructive ways in which social
media can help enhance students‘learning,
competence and ultimately performance.
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