Unmasking the bright–dark duality of social media use on psychological well-being: a large-scale longitudinal study

Yanqing Lin, Shaoxiong Fu*, Xun Zhou

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Purpose
As the number of social media users continues to rise globally, a heated debate emerges on whether social media use improves or harms mental health, as well as the bidirectional relation between social media use and mental health. Motivated by this, the authors’ study adopts the stressor–strain–outcome model and social compensation hypothesis to disentangle the effect mechanism between social media use and psychological well-being. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach
To empirically validate the proposed research model, a large-scale two-year longitudinal questionnaire survey on social media use was administered to a valid sample of 6,093 respondents recruited from a university in China. Structural equation modeling was employed for data analysis.

Findings
A longitudinal analysis reveals that social media use positively (negatively) impacts psychological well-being through the mediator of nomophobia (perceived social support) in a short period. However, social media use triggers more psychological unease, as well as more life satisfaction from a longitudinal perspective.

Originality/value
This study addresses the bidirectional relation between social media use and psychological unease. The current study also draws both theoretical and practical implications by unmasking the bright–dark duality of social media use on psychological well-being.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2308-2355
Number of pages48
JournalInternet Research
Volume33
Issue number6
Early online date30 Jan 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Nov 2023
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • social media
  • social support
  • nomophobia
  • psychological wellbeing
  • social compensation
  • stressor-strain-outcome

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