The Association of Social Media Use and Psychiatric Diagnoses Among Missouri College Students

Introduction: “Many college students experience significant mental health difficulties, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating these concerns (Sonet al., 2020). Mental health is significantly impacted by social media use, and this relationship has become increasingly complex after the COVID-19 pandemic (Haddad et al., 2021).” Research shows that depression, eating disorders, and anxiety are associated with more time spent on social media (Alam et al., 2021; Khan et al., 2019; Reighm et al., 2019; Sansha et al., 2017; Sidani et al., 2016). To follow-up on this research and assess the relationship between social media usage and psychiatric diagnoses among Missouri college students, we hypothesized that undergraduate students diagnosed with psychiatric disorders within the past year are spending more hours on social media per week. Methods: Cross-sectional data from 2022 were obtained from the Missouri College Health Behavior Survey (MACHB), a retrospective, self-report survey administered to undergraduate students at several universities in Missouri. Descriptive statistics were examined for social media use and the frequency of reported past-year diagnoses. A multiple regression model in SPSS was conducted to examine the effect of past-year diagnoses of anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD/ADHD/ODD, sleep issues, and eating disorders on the average hours spent on social media per week. Results: The diagnosis of anxiety within the past year significantly predicted greater weekly use of social media (M = 19.30, SD = 17.90), compared to those without anxiety (M = 17.32, SD = 15.89), B = 2.06, p = .003. Students with PTSD spent significantly less time (M = 17.16, SD = 18.07) using social media than those not diagnosed (M = 18.09, SD = 16.54), B = -2.32, p = .029.nSimilarly, those with OCD/ADD/ADHD spent less time on social media (M = 17.28, SD = 16.68) than students not diagnosed (n = 3,264, M = 18.15, SD = 16.65), B = -1.68, p = .031. Past-year diagnoses of depression, eating disorders, and chronic sleep issues were not associated with social media use. Discussion: Students diagnosed with anxiety in the past year spend more time on social media than those who were not, consistent with previous research (Alam et al., 2021; Bettman et al., 2020; Maras et al., 2015; Riehm et al., 2019; Shensa et al., 2017; Vannucci et al., 2017). Contrary to hypotheses and prior research (Alam et al., 2021; Bettman et al., 2020; Khan et al., 2019; Maras et al., 2015; Riehm et al., 2019; Shensa et al., 2017), past-year OCD/ADD/ADHD and PTSD diagnoses were associated with less time spent on social media. However, viewing sensitive content on social media and experiencing cyber bullying has been found to elicit PTSD symptoms (McHugh et al. (2018), which can potentially help explain less time spent on social media among those diagnosed with PTSD. No associations were found between social media usage and eating disorders, major depressive disorder, or chronic sleep issues, despite some research highlighting associations with these disorders (Alam et al., 2021; Bettman et al., 2020; Khan et al., 2019; Maras et al., 2015; Riehm et al., 2019; Shensa et al., 2017; Sidani et al., 2016). Future research may include investigating the impact of social media usage on symptoms of anxiety disorders to determine directionality of the association. Additionally, Faulhaber et al. (2023) found that limiting social media use was associated with statistically significantly decreased anxiety compared to pretreatment. 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