Facebook Usage and Anxiety Levels Among University Students: A Correlational Study
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This study aimed to explore the relationship between Facebook usage and anxiety levels among university students. A quantitative research approach using cross-sectional study design was adopted and the sample of 180 participants was taken from Bahria University Islamabad and Air University Islamabad. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire comprising two sections; Section 1 included general information regarding demographic factors, while Section 2 included the Facebook Use Intensity Scale (FBI) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7). To test the hypotheses of the research, Pearson correlation, linear regression analysis, and T-test Analysis were conducted. The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between Facebook usage and anxiety levels, suggesting that Facebook activity predicts anxiety among students. Gender differences in Facebook usage were not significant, but females exhibited higher anxiety levels compared to males, indicating gender-based differences in anxiety experiences.
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American Psychological Association. (2020). APA dictionary of psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/anxiety
Andreassen, C. S., Torsheim, T., Brunborg, G. S., & Pallesen, S. (2012). Development of a Facebook addiction scale. Psychological Reports, 110(2), 501–517. https://doi.org/10.2466/02.09.18.PR0.110.2.501-517
Asif, S., Mudassar, A., Shahzad, T. Z., Raouf, M., & Pervaiz, T. (2020). Frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students. Pakistan Journal of Medical Science, 36(5), 971–976. https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.5.1873
Atroszko, P. A., Balcerowska, J. M., Bereznowski, P., Biernatowska, A., Pallesen, S., & Andreassen, C. S. (2018). Facebook addiction among polish undergraduate students: Validity of measurement and relationship with personality and well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 85, 329–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.04.001
Bano, Z., Ejaz, M., & Ahmad, I. (2021). Assessment of prevalence of Anxiety in adult population and development of anxiety scale: A study of 819 patients with anxiety disorder. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 37(2), 472–476 https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37
Beyens, I., Frison, E., & Eggermont, S. (2016). “I don’t want to miss a thing”: Adolescents’ fear of missing out and its relationship to adolescents’ social needs, Facebook use, and Facebook related stress. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.083
Biernatowska, A., Balcerowska, J. M., & Bereznowski, P. (2017). Gender differences in using Facebook—preliminary analysis. In J. Nyćkowiak & J. Leśny (Eds.), Research and development of young scientists in Poland - Society: Psychology and sociology (pp. 13–18). Młodzi Naukowcy.
Chakraborty, A. (2017). Facebook addiction: An emerging problem. American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal, 11(12), 7–9. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2016.111203
Chen, W., & Lee, K.-H. (2013). Sharing, liking, commenting, and distressed? The pathway between Facebook interaction and psychological distress. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(10), 728–734. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0272
Coyne, S., Rogers, A., D, J., Laura, Z., dale, S., & Booth, M. (2020). Does time spent using social media impact mental health? An eight year longitudinal study. Computers in Human Behavior, 104, Article e106160 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.106160
Davidson, T., & Farquhar, L. K. (2014). Correlates of social anxiety, religion, and Facebook. Journal of Media and Religion, 13(4), 208–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2014.971566
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook ‘‘friends:’’ Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143–1168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x
Emery, R. E. (2023, March 20). Post-traumatic stress disorder. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/generalized-anxiety-disorder
Farahani, H. A., Kazemi, Z., Aghamohamadi, S., Bakhtiarvand, F., & Ansari, M. (2011). Examining mental health indices in students using Facebook in Iran. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 28, 811–814 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.148
Feder, K. A., Riehm, K. E., & Mojtabai, R. (2020). Is there an association between social media use and mental health? The timing of confounding measurement matters—reply. JAMA Psychiatry, 77(4), 438–438. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.4503
Gamson, W. A., Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., & Sasson, T. (1992). Media images and the social construction of reality. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 373–393. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.18.080192.002105
Gerbner, G. (1969). Toward “cultural indicators”: The analysis of mass mediated public message systems. AV Communication Review, 17(2), 137–148.
Hishinuma, E. S., Miyamoto, R. H., Nishimura, S. T., & Nahulu, L. B. (2000). Differences in State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores for ethnically diverse adolescents in Hawaii. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 6(1), 73–83. https://doi.org/10.1037/1099-9809.6.1.73
Hormes, J., Kearns, B., & Timko, A. (2014). Craving Facebook? behavioral addiction to online social networking and its association with emotion regulation deficits. Semantic Scholar, 109(12), 2079–2088. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12713
Karim, F., Oyewande, A. A., Abdalla, L. F., Ehsanullah, R. C., & Khan, S. (2020). Social media use and its connection to mental health: A systematic review. Cureus, 12(6) Article e8627 https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.8627
Kaye, A. (2018). Facebook use and negative behavioral and mental health outcomes: A literature review. Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy, 10(1), Article e1000375 https://doi.org/10.4172/2155-6105.1000375
Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2019). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851
Kemp, S. (2022, February 16). Digital 2022: Pakistan. Datareportal. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-pakistan
Koc, M., & Gulyagci, S. (2013). Facebook addiction among Turkish college students: the role of psychological health, demographic, and usage characteristics. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(4), 279–284. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0249
Kratzer, S., & Hegerl, U. (2007). Is" Internet Addiction" a disorder of its own?--a study on subjects with excessive internet use. Psychiatrische Praxis, 35(2), 80–83. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2007-970888
Kreyar, M., & Wok, S. (2020). Social media addiction and its influence on mental health among university students in Cambodia: Beyond the cultivation theory (Paper Presentation). 2nd Kuala Lumpur International Multidisciplinary Academic Conference. Kuala, India.
Kross, V. P. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PLos One, 8(8), Article e69841 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069841
Labrague, L. J. (2014). Facebook use and adolescents’ emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress. Health Science Journal, 8(1), 80–89.
Lee-Won, R. J., Herzog, L., & Park, S. G. (2015). Hooked on Facebook: The role of social anxiety and need for social assurance in problematic use of Facebook. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(10), 567–574. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2015.0002
Michelle, O. (2020). Social media and adolescent mental health: The good, the bad and the ugly. Journal of Mental Health, 29(2), 200–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2020.1714007
Moyer, E., Giles, H., & Linz, D. (2008). Communication studies, overview. In L. Kurtz (Ed.), Encyclopedia of violence, peace, & conflict (pp. 368–379). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012373985-8.00032-5
Muzaffar, N., Brito, E. B., Fogel, J., Fagan, D., Kumar, K., & VerMA, R. (2018). The association of adolescent Facebook behaviours with symptoms of social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and depression. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent, 27(4) 252–260.
Nevzat, R. (2018, October 9–11). Reviving cultivation theory for social media (Paper Presentation). The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film Conference. Tokyo, Japan.
O'Hagan, L. (2013). Who's who? What's not to like? study of personality type, self-esteem, stress and anxiety in relation to Facebook [Master thesis, Dublin Business School of Arts]. Dublin Business School. http://hdl.handle.net/10788/1635
Pantic, I. (2014). Online social networking and mental health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 17(10), 652–657. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2014.0070
Scott, H., & Woods, H. C. (2018). Fear of missing out and sleep: Cognitive behavioural factors in adolescents' nighttime social media use. Journal of Adolescence, 68, 61–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.07.009
Seabrook, E. M., Kern, M. L., & Rickard, N. S. (2016). Social networking sites, depression, and anxiety: A systematic review. JMIR Mental Health, 3(4), Article e5842. https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.5842
Shaw, A. M., Timpano, K. R., Tran, T. B., & Joormann, J. (2015). Correlates of Facebook usage patterns: The relationship between passive Facebook use, social anxiety symptoms, and brooding. Computers in Human Behavior, 48, 575–580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.003
Signorielli, N., & Morgan, M. (2014). Cultivation analysis: Research and practice. In D. W. Stacks, M. B. Salwen & K. C. Eichhorn. (Eds.), An integrated approach to communication theory and research. Routledge.
Smahel, D., Blinka, L., & Ledabyl, O. (2008). Playing MMORPGs: Connections between addiction and identifying with a character. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(6), 715–718. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.0210
Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B., & Löwe, B. (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), 1092–1097. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092
Thompson, S., & Lougheed, E. (2012). Frazzled by Facebook? An exploratory study of gender differences in social network communication among undergraduate men and women. College Student Journal, 49, 88–89.
Vannuccia, A., M.Flanneryab, K., McCauley, C., & Ohannessianac. (2017). Social media use and anxiety in emerging adults. Journal of Affective Disorders, 207, 163–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.08.040
World Health Organization. (2018). Mental health: Strengthening our response. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response
Yang, F. R., Wei, C. F., & Tang, J. H. (2019). Effect of Facebook social comparison on well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Internet Technology, 20(6), 1829–1836.
Zaffar, M., Mahmood, S., Saleem, M., & Zakaria, E. (2015). Facebook addiction: Relation with depression, anxiety, loneliness and academic performance of Pakistani students. Science International, 27(3), 2469–2475.
Zhong, Q.-Y., Gelaye, B., Zaslavsky, A. M., Fann, J. R., Rondon, M. B., Sánchez, S. E., & Williams, M. A. (2015). Diagnostic validity of the generalized anxiety disorder - 7 (GAD-7) among Pregnant Women. PLoS One, 10(4), Article e0125096. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125096
American Psychological Association. (2020). APA dictionary of psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/anxiety
Andreassen, C. S., Torsheim, T., Brunborg, G. S., & Pallesen, S. (2012). Development of a Facebook addiction scale. Psychological Reports, 110(2), 501–517. https://doi.org/10.2466/02.09.18.PR0.110.2.501-517
Asif, S., Mudassar, A., Shahzad, T. Z., Raouf, M., & Pervaiz, T. (2020). Frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students. Pakistan Journal of Medical Science, 36(5), 971–976. https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.5.1873
Atroszko, P. A., Balcerowska, J. M., Bereznowski, P., Biernatowska, A., Pallesen, S., & Andreassen, C. S. (2018). Facebook addiction among polish undergraduate students: Validity of measurement and relationship with personality and well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 85, 329–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.04.001
Bano, Z., Ejaz, M., & Ahmad, I. (2021). Assessment of prevalence of Anxiety in adult population and development of anxiety scale: A study of 819 patients with anxiety disorder. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 37(2), 472–476 https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37
Beyens, I., Frison, E., & Eggermont, S. (2016). “I don’t want to miss a thing”: Adolescents’ fear of missing out and its relationship to adolescents’ social needs, Facebook use, and Facebook related stress. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.083
Biernatowska, A., Balcerowska, J. M., & Bereznowski, P. (2017). Gender differences in using Facebook—preliminary analysis. In J. Nyćkowiak & J. Leśny (Eds.), Research and development of young scientists in Poland - Society: Psychology and sociology (pp. 13–18). Młodzi Naukowcy.
Chakraborty, A. (2017). Facebook addiction: An emerging problem. American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal, 11(12), 7–9. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2016.111203
Chen, W., & Lee, K.-H. (2013). Sharing, liking, commenting, and distressed? The pathway between Facebook interaction and psychological distress. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(10), 728–734. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0272
Coyne, S., Rogers, A., D, J., Laura, Z., dale, S., & Booth, M. (2020). Does time spent using social media impact mental health? An eight year longitudinal study. Computers in Human Behavior, 104, Article e106160 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.106160
Davidson, T., & Farquhar, L. K. (2014). Correlates of social anxiety, religion, and Facebook. Journal of Media and Religion, 13(4), 208–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2014.971566
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook ‘‘friends:’’ Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143–1168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x
Emery, R. E. (2023, March 20). Post-traumatic stress disorder. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/generalized-anxiety-disorder
Farahani, H. A., Kazemi, Z., Aghamohamadi, S., Bakhtiarvand, F., & Ansari, M. (2011). Examining mental health indices in students using Facebook in Iran. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 28, 811–814 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.148
Feder, K. A., Riehm, K. E., & Mojtabai, R. (2020). Is there an association between social media use and mental health? The timing of confounding measurement matters—reply. JAMA Psychiatry, 77(4), 438–438. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.4503
Gamson, W. A., Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., & Sasson, T. (1992). Media images and the social construction of reality. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 373–393. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.18.080192.002105
Gerbner, G. (1969). Toward “cultural indicators”: The analysis of mass mediated public message systems. AV Communication Review, 17(2), 137–148.
Hishinuma, E. S., Miyamoto, R. H., Nishimura, S. T., & Nahulu, L. B. (2000). Differences in State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores for ethnically diverse adolescents in Hawaii. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 6(1), 73–83. https://doi.org/10.1037/1099-9809.6.1.73
Hormes, J., Kearns, B., & Timko, A. (2014). Craving Facebook? behavioral addiction to online social networking and its association with emotion regulation deficits. Semantic Scholar, 109(12), 2079–2088. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12713
Karim, F., Oyewande, A. A., Abdalla, L. F., Ehsanullah, R. C., & Khan, S. (2020). Social media use and its connection to mental health: A systematic review. Cureus, 12(6) Article e8627 https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.8627
Kaye, A. (2018). Facebook use and negative behavioral and mental health outcomes: A literature review. Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy, 10(1), Article e1000375 https://doi.org/10.4172/2155-6105.1000375
Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2019). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851
Kemp, S. (2022, February 16). Digital 2022: Pakistan. Datareportal. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-pakistan
Koc, M., & Gulyagci, S. (2013). Facebook addiction among Turkish college students: the role of psychological health, demographic, and usage characteristics. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(4), 279–284. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0249
Kratzer, S., & Hegerl, U. (2007). Is" Internet Addiction" a disorder of its own?--a study on subjects with excessive internet use. Psychiatrische Praxis, 35(2), 80–83. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2007-970888
Kreyar, M., & Wok, S. (2020). Social media addiction and its influence on mental health among university students in Cambodia: Beyond the cultivation theory (Paper Presentation). 2nd Kuala Lumpur International Multidisciplinary Academic Conference. Kuala, India.
Kross, V. P. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PLos One, 8(8), Article e69841 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069841
Labrague, L. J. (2014). Facebook use and adolescents’ emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress. Health Science Journal, 8(1), 80–89.
Lee-Won, R. J., Herzog, L., & Park, S. G. (2015). Hooked on Facebook: The role of social anxiety and need for social assurance in problematic use of Facebook. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(10), 567–574. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2015.0002
Michelle, O. (2020). Social media and adolescent mental health: The good, the bad and the ugly. Journal of Mental Health, 29(2), 200–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2020.1714007
Moyer, E., Giles, H., & Linz, D. (2008). Communication studies, overview. In L. Kurtz (Ed.), Encyclopedia of violence, peace, & conflict (pp. 368–379). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012373985-8.00032-5
Muzaffar, N., Brito, E. B., Fogel, J., Fagan, D., Kumar, K., & VerMA, R. (2018). The association of adolescent Facebook behaviours with symptoms of social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and depression. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent, 27(4) 252–260.
Nevzat, R. (2018, October 9–11). Reviving cultivation theory for social media (Paper Presentation). The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film Conference. Tokyo, Japan.
O'Hagan, L. (2013). Who's who? What's not to like? study of personality type, self-esteem, stress and anxiety in relation to Facebook [Master thesis, Dublin Business School of Arts]. Dublin Business School. http://hdl.handle.net/10788/1635
Pantic, I. (2014). Online social networking and mental health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 17(10), 652–657. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2014.0070
Scott, H., & Woods, H. C. (2018). Fear of missing out and sleep: Cognitive behavioural factors in adolescents' nighttime social media use. Journal of Adolescence, 68, 61–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.07.009
Seabrook, E. M., Kern, M. L., & Rickard, N. S. (2016). Social networking sites, depression, and anxiety: A systematic review. JMIR Mental Health, 3(4), Article e5842. https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.5842
Shaw, A. M., Timpano, K. R., Tran, T. B., & Joormann, J. (2015). Correlates of Facebook usage patterns: The relationship between passive Facebook use, social anxiety symptoms, and brooding. Computers in Human Behavior, 48, 575–580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.003
Signorielli, N., & Morgan, M. (2014). Cultivation analysis: Research and practice. In D. W. Stacks, M. B. Salwen & K. C. Eichhorn. (Eds.), An integrated approach to communication theory and research. Routledge.
Smahel, D., Blinka, L., & Ledabyl, O. (2008). Playing MMORPGs: Connections between addiction and identifying with a character. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(6), 715–718. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.0210
Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B., & Löwe, B. (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), 1092–1097. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092
Thompson, S., & Lougheed, E. (2012). Frazzled by Facebook? An exploratory study of gender differences in social network communication among undergraduate men and women. College Student Journal, 49, 88–89.
Vannuccia, A., M.Flanneryab, K., McCauley, C., & Ohannessianac. (2017). Social media use and anxiety in emerging adults. Journal of Affective Disorders, 207, 163–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.08.040
World Health Organization. (2018). Mental health: Strengthening our response. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response
Yang, F. R., Wei, C. F., & Tang, J. H. (2019). Effect of Facebook social comparison on well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Internet Technology, 20(6), 1829–1836.
Zaffar, M., Mahmood, S., Saleem, M., & Zakaria, E. (2015). Facebook addiction: Relation with depression, anxiety, loneliness and academic performance of Pakistani students. Science International, 27(3), 2469–2475.
Zhong, Q.-Y., Gelaye, B., Zaslavsky, A. M., Fann, J. R., Rondon, M. B., Sánchez, S. E., & Williams, M. A. (2015). Diagnostic validity of the generalized anxiety disorder - 7 (GAD-7) among Pregnant Women. PLoS One, 10(4), Article e0125096. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125096
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