Associations between Comparison on Social Media and Depressive Symptoms: A Study of Young Parents
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Associations between Comparison on Social Media and Depressive Symptoms: A Study of Young Parents Jaime E. Sidani
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Ariel Shensa1,2 César G. Escobar-Viera1,2 Brian A. Primack3 ●
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© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract We aimed to assess associations between parental social media comparison (PSMC)—the degree to which individuals compare their parenting with others on social media (SM)—and depressive symptoms. In March 2018 we conducted a survey of 528 parents ages 18-30 with children under the age of 18. Participants were asked about SM use, PSMC, and depressive symptoms. PSMC was measured with 7 Likert-type items that asked participants the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with statements such as “Based on their posts, other parents on social media appear to provide a better social life for their children than I do.” Depressive symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Multivariable ordered logistic regression models were used to assess the association between PSMC and depressive symptoms while controlling for SM use, parent adverse childhood experiences, parent age, gender, race/ethnicity, relationship status, employment status and household income, age of oldest child, and number of children. The PSMC was internally consistent (α = 0.94). In multivariable models, after adjusting for all covariates, there was 51% greater odds of elevated depressive symptoms (AOR = 1.51, 95% CI [1.33, 1.71]) for every one-point increase on the PSMC scale. In conclusion, the PSMC is independently associated with elevated depressive symptoms among parents. Future research should assess directionality of these associations and further explore parents’ experiences of comparison with others on SM. Keywords Social media use Social comparison Depressive symptoms Mental health Parents ●
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Highlights We developed a Parental Social Media Comparison scale (PSMC) to assess how parents compare themselves on social media. ● We found that a one-point increase in PSMC was associated with 51% greater odds of elevated depressive symptoms. ● This association was apparent even after controlling for covariates associated with depression and social media use. ●
* Jaime E. Sidani [email protected] 1
Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, UPMC Montefiore Hospital, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Suite W933, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
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Center for Research on Behavioral Health, Media, and Technology, Center for Research on Healthcare, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 230 McKee Place, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
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College of Education and Health Professions, University of Arkansas, 324 Graduate Education Building, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
Social media (SM) use is increasing, with almost threequarters of U.S. adults reporting using SM (Pew Research Center 2019). SM use is now ubiquitous across all sociodemographics categories; usage gaps across ag
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