Social Media and Depression

Social Media and Depression Introduction Depression is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders in the developed nations and the developing nations. Research shows that a major depression affects 16 percent of the general population, with women showing higher prevalence of depression than men (Sagud et al., 2002). Sagud et al. (2002) shows that females have a higher prevalence of incidence, as well as the morbidity risk of depressive disorders, with higher rates of depression seen at mid-puberty. Recent research on depression has focused on the relationship between social media and depression. It has found a positive correlation between the use of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites and increased level of depression among young adults (O'Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson, 2011). However, it has failed to explain how this relation varies between the genders.  Pantic et al. (2012) did a study examining the relationship between social networking and depression in adolescent. They found a positive relation between online social networking and depression, but it failed to explain how the relationship varies between the two genders. Kim et al. (2006) also showed that internet addiction was associated with increased levels of depression and suicidal ideation, but it did not show how the depression varies between males and females. Therefore, a literature gap exists of how social media relationships with depression vary between men and women. The gender differences in depressive disorder provide a clear impression that it also affects the social media and depression relationship. However, this can be attributed to Silverstein et al. (2013) study. They concluded that gender differences in the depressive prevalence result of somatic symptoms rather than the number of symptoms and the difference was larger for somatic rather than atypical depression.  As such, this research paper focuses on explaining how the relationship between social media and depression vary between men and women. Methods Participants The population description we chose for our study will consist of participants that are enrolled at Cal State Dominguez Hills. There will be a recruitment of a total of 100 students ranging from ages 18- 35 years old. We will recruit these students from our former classes. We will ask our professors for permission to use student’s emails in order to send them the direct link to our questionnaires for our study. For our sampling method we will use two types of sampling, Convenient and Stratification. Convenient Sampling is where we will be using students from Cal State Dominguez Hills by means of proximity to our research study. We intend to recruit students from classes we are enrolled in, and therefore won’t need to look for outside sources. In doing so, we hope to get a total of 100 participants. Stratification Sampling will be used when we reach the amount of participants which are 50 males and 50 females; we won’t be able to take any more questionnaires once we have reached our capacity. The sample characteristics in our study are making sure our participants fit our required demographics such as age range and gender. Participants also need to be active in social media, specifically Facebook. There will be no compensation or incentive for participating in our study. Measures The variables we will be measuring for our study are depression and the use of social media: specifically Facebook. To measure depression we will use the Goldberg Depression Questionnaire. This questionnaire consists of a total of 18 questions developed by Dr. Ivan K. Goldberg. It is a self-test that our participants will take in order to see signs and symptoms that are linked to depression. In order to score the Goldberg Depression Questionnaire, participants will have to answer each one of the questions. We will conclude how severe the depression is by looking at the scoring ranges: the greater the number, the more critical the depression. To measure the use of social media, specifically Facebook, we will use the Facebook Intensity Quiz developed by N.B. Ellison, C. Steinfield and C. Lampe. The Facebook Intensity Quiz will measure the participants frequents use of Facebook as well as whether their use of becoming an addiction. Participants will answer a 14- item questionnaire by responding to categories that range from 1= strongly disagree to 5= strongly agree. The Facebook Intensity Scale will be scored by calculating the main of the items on the scale. Procedure Our group will start by asking the professors from our former classes for permission to use students’ emails to send them the direct link to our questionnaire. After our permission approval we will send a larger number than what we need in order to ensure we will receive our intended goal of 100 participants. Prior to participating in our study, participants must agree to our consent form which will describe our study in detail.  Once they have accepted the consent form it will assure them of its confidentiality. Participants will also be notified that they can stop taking the questionnaires at any given time. The participants will answer the demographic questions followed by the Depression and Facebook questionnaire. Once the questionnaires are completed the results will only be available for viewing by our group. SPSS RESULTS Univariate Analysis of Variance Notes Output Created        25-NOV-2014 15:15:29 Comments Input    Data    /Users/genesisrios/Downloads/Data_All_141125/survey data recoded.sav Active Dataset    DataSet1 Filter    <none> Weight    <none> Split File    <none> N of Rows in Working Data File    95 Missing Value Handling    Definition of Missing    User-defined missing values are treated as missing. Cases Used    Statistics are based on all cases with valid data for all variables in the model. Syntax        UNIANOVA depression_total BY gender FBmedian /METHOD=SSTYPE(3) /INTERCEPT=INCLUDE /EMMEANS=TABLES(gender*FBmedian) /PRINT=OPOWER ETASQ HOMOGENEITY DESCRIPTIVE /CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05) /DESIGN=gender FBmedian gender*FBmedian. Resources    Processor Time    00:00:00.02 Elapsed Time    00:00:00.00 Between-Subjects Factors Value Label    N What is your gender?    0    Female    29 1    Male    24 FBmedian    .00        29 1.00        24 Descriptive Statistics Dependent Variable:   depression_total What is your gender?    FBmedian    Mean    Std. Deviation    N Female    .00    28.3529    8.51426    17 1.00    23.6667    4.51932    12 Total    26.4138    7.41387    29 Male    .00    39.0833    14.78610    12 1.00    33.7500    10.70365    12 Total    36.4167    12.91415    24 Total    .00    32.7931    12.49966    29 1.00    28.7083    9.54385    24 Total    30.9434    11.34158    53 Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variancesa Dependent Variable:   depression_total F    df1    df2    Sig. 3.401    3    49    .025 Tests the null hypothesis that the error variance of the dependent variable is equal across groups.a a. Design: Intercept + gender + FBmedian + gender * FBmedian Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Dependent Variable:   depression_total Source    Type III Sum of Squares    df    Mean Square    F    Sig.    Partial Eta Squared    Noncent. Parameter Corrected Model    1639.115a    3    546.372    5.302    .003    .245    15.905 Intercept    50476.261    1    50476.261    489.797    .000    .909    489.797 gender    1402.779    1    1402.779    13.612    .001    .217    13.612 FBmedian    325.081    1    325.081    3.154    .082    .060    3.154 gender * FBmedian    1.356    1    1.356    .013    .909    .000    .013 Error    5049.716    49    103.055 Total    57436.000    53 Corrected Total    6688.830    52 Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Dependent Variable:   depression_total Source    Observed Powerb Corrected Model    .911 Intercept    1.000 gender    .951 FBmedian    .414 gender * FBmedian    .051 Error Total Corrected Total a. R Squared = .245 (Adjusted R Squared = .199) b. Computed using alpha = Estimated Marginal Means What is your gender? * FBmedian Dependent Variable:   depression_total What is your gender?    FBmedian    Mean    Std. Error    95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound    Upper Bound Female    .00    28.353    2.462    23.405    33.301 1.00    23.667    2.931    17.778    29.556 Male    .00    39.083    2.931    33.194    44.972 1.00    33.750    2.931    27.861    39.639 PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT :)