Do Social Network Sites Make Us Depressed? The Influence Of Social Network Sites Use And Social Comparison

Nowadays,social networking sites(SNSs)have become part of our daily life,especially for young people.Some studies have found that using SNSs may cause depression.However,different activities in SNSs may have different predictive effects on depression,such as different forms of SNSs use,the content browsed on SNSs,etc.In addition,according to the social rank theory and social comparison theory,social comparison might function as a mediator in the relationship between SNSs use and depression.Thus,current study tried to explore the relationship and influence mechanism of social networking sites and depression through three interconnected studies.In study 1,a questionnaire survey was conducted among 331 participants aged between 18 and 25 years old to investigate the relationship between SNSs use and depression,as well as the mediating role of social comparison in different situations(online comparison,offline comparison).Study 2 and study 3 focused on the online situation.In study 2,another questionnaire survey was conducted among 266 participants aged between 18 and 25 years old to investigate the relationship between different forms of SNSs use(active use,passive use)and depression,as well as the mediating role of social comparison of different domains(ability-based comparison,opinion-based comparison).In study 3,a laboratory experiment was conducted among120 college students to examine the relationship between different browsing contents in SNSs(self-related information,self-irrelevant information)and depression,as well as the mediating role of social comparison of different domains(ability-based comparison,opinion-based comparison).According to these three studies,the results are as follows:(1)According to study 1,SNSs use positively predicts depression.After segmenting the activities in SNSs,we found that different forms of SNSs use(active use,passive use)have different predictive effects on depression.According to study 2,active use negatively predicts depression,while passive use positively predicts depression.According to study 3,different browsing contents in SNSs(self-related information,self-irrelevant information)also have different effects on depression.Compared with those who browse self-irrelevant information,those who browse self-related information have lower level of depression.(2)Subdivided kind of social comparisons play different mediating roles in the relationship between SNSs use and depression.For social comparison in different situations(online comparison,offline comparison),study 1 showed that only online comparison mediates the relationship between SNSs use and depression.For social comparison of different domains(ability-based comparison,opinion-based comparison),study 2 showed that only ability-based comparison mediates the relationship between passive use and depression,as well as the relationship between active use and depression.Study 3 showed that only ability-based comparison mediates the relationship between browsing self-related information and depression.In conclusion,this study found that there is domain specificity in the relationship among SNSs use,social comparison and depression,which provides inspiration for future research and practice.