Active and passive social media use are differentially related to depressive symptoms in older adults

Lewin, Kaitlin M.; Meshi, Dar; Schuster, Amy M.; Cotten, Shelia R.

doi:10.1080/13607863.2022.2068133

Cited by 14 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 54 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…One possibility is that the types of behaviors engaged in using social media might influence mental health among older adults. Active social media use, such as posting videos and photos, was positively related to depressive symptoms among older adults (Lewin et al, 2022). More scholars need to explore the mechanism behind potential risks of social media use among older adults (Fang et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the study by Aarts and colleagues (2015), the frequency of social media use was not related to emotional and social loneliness of older adults in the Netherlands. More recently, active social media use (e.g., posting videos and photos) was found to be positively related to depressive symptoms among older adults in the United States (Lewin et al, 2022). These mixed results on the effects of social media use on loneliness call for more research on the variables that influence the relationship between social media use and loneliness among older adults.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Does Social Media Use Mitigate or Exacerbate Loneliness among Korean Older Adults? Focusing on the Moderating Role of Media Literacy

Kim,

Lee

2023

Social Media + Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As older adult populations rapidly increase worldwide, loneliness among older adults is emerging as a societal burden. Whether social media use can increase or decrease older adults’ loneliness remains debated in the literature. The purpose of this study is to clarify the effect of social media use on loneliness among older adults by examining the moderating role of media literacy on the relationship between social media use and loneliness. Considering that Korea is facing the most rapid population aging among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and that two-thirds of Korean older adults use social media, Korean data can provide international insights into the impact of social media use on older adults. Responses from 554 Korean respondents aged 60 to 79, extracted from the 2021 Korea Media Panel Survey, were analyzed using the PROCESS Macro Model 1. The results of this study showed that the effect of social media use on loneliness among older adults was moderated by their level of media literacy. As the amount of time spent using social media increased, loneliness increased for respondents with low-to-middle media literacy. This study’s findings emphasize the importance of educational interventions to increase older adults’ digital media literacy and expand scholarly understanding of the impact of social media use in non-Western countries.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Social Media Use Mitigate or Exacerbate Loneliness among Korean Older Adults? Focusing on the Moderating Role of Media Literacy

Kim,

Lee

2023

Social Media + Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some studies found no association between SMU and depressive symptoms for older adults ( Guzman & Mentes, 2017 ; Schwaba & Bleindorn, 2021 ; Sharifian et al, 2021 ). Other studies, however, reported an association between SMU and depressive symptoms, suggesting that SMU led to depressive symptoms ( Cenko, Kaufman, & Manini, 2021 ; Fu & Xie, 2021 ; Lewin et al, 2023 ; Smith et al, 2021 ). In contrast, Kouvonene and colleagues (2021) reported an association with depressive symptoms leading to SMU.…”

Section: Social Media Use and Depressive Symptomsmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…In contrast, Kouvonene and colleagues (2021) reported an association with depressive symptoms leading to SMU. Regardless of the associations reported between SMU and depressive symptoms, most of the studies used a cross-sectional study design, which prevents the establishment of whether a causal relationship actually exists between SMU and depressive symptoms ( Cenko, Kaufman, & Manini, 2021 ; Fu & Xie, 2021 ; Guzman & Mentes, 2017 ; Hofer & Hargittai, 2021 ; Kouvonen et al, 2021 ; Lewin et al, 2023 ; Sharifian et al, 2021 ; Smith et al, 2021 ). Ang and Chen (2019) employed a longitudinal design, though they used only two waves (2013–14) of data.…”

Section: Social Media Use and Depressive Symptomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ambiguity as to whether the association between SMU and depressive symptoms is positive or negative could also be due to the SMU measures used in the studies, which analyze overall use and not the type or purpose of use. Studies analyzing type of use reported that active SMU (e.g., posting) was positively associated with depressive symptoms ( Chhatwani, Kumar Mishra, & Rai, 2023 ; Lewin et al, 2023 ), whereas passive SMU (e.g., browsing) was negatively associated with depressive symptoms (Lewin et al, 2022). Hofer and Hargittai (2021) analyzed purpose of use and found that older adults using social media were more prone to check in on someone who was suddenly missing from an online group and older adults who were more likely to answer questions in a social media forum reported higher depressive symptoms.…”

Section: Social Media Use and Depressive Symptomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Social Media Use May Not Be As Bad As Some Suggest: Implication for Older Adults

Cotten

Anaraky

Schuster

2023

Innovation in Aging

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background and Objectives Social media use (SMU) has increased over the past decade among older adults. Cross-sectional studies report SMU is related to negative mental health outcomes (i.e., depression). Given depression is the most common mental health issue for older adults and increases the risk of morbidity and mortality, determining longitudinally whether SMU is related to increased depression is critical. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between SMU and depression. Research Design and Methods Data from six waves (2015-2020) of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) was analyzed. Participants included a nationally representative sample of U.S. older adults, aged 65 years and older (N= 7,057). We used a Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Modeling (RI-CLPM) framework to examine the relationship between primary outcomes social media use (SMU) and depression symptoms. Results No pattern was found of SMU predicting depression symptoms, or depression symptoms predicting SMU. The major driver of SMU in each wave was SMU in the previous wave. On average, our model accounted for 3.03% of the variance in SMU. The major predictor of depression in each wave was the pre-existing depression. Our model accounted for an average of 22.81% of the variance in depressive symptoms. Discussion and Implications The results suggest that SMU and depressive symptoms are driven by the previous patterns of SMU and depression, respectively. We did not find any patterns of SMU and depression influencing each other. NHATS measures SMU with a binary instrument. Future longitudinal research should employ measures that account for SMU duration, type, and purpose. These findings suggest that SMU may not be related to negative health outcomes, in this case depression, for older adults.

show abstract

Does personal relative deprivation mediate the relationship between passive social media use and beliefs in conspiracy theories? Cross‐sectional correlational and experimental evidence

Gkinopoulos,

Pagliaro,

Pacilli

et al. 2023

Euro J Social Psych

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social media use occupies a prominent space in social sciences scholarship and beyond. However, the distinction between active and passive use of social media, although important in explaining a variety of users’ behaviours, has been overlooked in terms of its potential to predict key socially relevant outcomes like beliefs in conspiracy theories. In three studies (N = 1388, in total), we provide evidence on (a) the role of passive social media use in believing in conspiracy theories via personal relative deprivation; (b) the interaction effect between social media use and personal relative deprivation on beliefs in conspiracy theories. The results showed that passive social media use is linked to, and increases, beliefs in conspiracy theories and this relationship is partially mediated via increased personal relative deprivation (Studies 1 and 2). In Study 3, personal relative deprivation was also manipulated experimentally in the context of a ʻmoderation‐of‐process' design, yielding a significant interaction with social media use. The results are discussed in the light of their social and media psychological contribution and implications in the digital era, when misinformation often becomes prevalent.

show abstract

Active and passive social media use are differentially related to depressive symptoms in older adults

Cited by 14 publications

References 54 publications

Does Social Media Use Mitigate or Exacerbate Loneliness among Korean Older Adults? Focusing on the Moderating Role of Media Literacy

Does Social Media Use Mitigate or Exacerbate Loneliness among Korean Older Adults? Focusing on the Moderating Role of Media Literacy

Social Media Use May Not Be As Bad As Some Suggest: Implication for Older Adults

Does personal relative deprivation mediate the relationship between passive social media use and beliefs in conspiracy theories? Cross‐sectional correlational and experimental evidence

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About