IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MEDICAL EVALUATION AND PHYSICAL REPORT (IJMEPR )

E-ISSN 2579-0498
P-ISSN 2695-2181
VOL. 8 NO. 5 2024
DOI: 10.56201/ijmepr.v8.no5.2024.pg73.82

---

University Students' Mental Health in the Age of Social Media: A Sociological Perspective

Dr (Mrs) Juliet Ohenokobosare Esieboma and Dr (Mrs) Abiodun Blessing Osaiyuwu

---

Abstract

This study analyzed the relationship between the use of social media and students’ mental health, and its impact on them. Using existing literature, a comprehensive review was utilized to investigate the ways in which social media platforms affect students. Analysis reveals that excessive use of social media is associated with increased symptoms of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. The analysis explores the sociological factors that contribute to the impact of social media on mental health and social isolation, including the role of social comparison, peer pressure, and the commodification of relationships. Recommendation include, universities implementing mental health resources and support services to address social media-related concerns and policy makers developing social media policies and guidelines to promote responsible usage.

keywords:

Social media, Mental health, Social isolation, Students, Sociological analysis

---

References:

Abarna, S., Sheeba, J. I., Jayasrilakshmi, S., & Devaneyan, S. P. (2022). Identification of cyber
harassment and intention of target users on social media platforms. Engineering
applications of artificial intelligence, 115, 105283.
Arnett, J. L. (2006). Health and mental health in Canada. Mental health systems compared: Great
Britain, Norway, Canada, and the United States, 138-185.
Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014). Online communication, social media and adolescent
wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children and Youth Services Review, 41, 27-36.
Beyari H. (2023). The Relationship between Social Media and the Increase in Mental Health
Problems. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 29;20(3):2383. doi:
10.3390/ijerph20032383. PMID: 36767749; PMCID: PMC9915628.
Braghieri, L., Levy, R. E., & Makarin, A. (2022). Social media and mental health. American
Economic Review, 112(11), 3660-3693.
Burke, M., & Kraut, R. E. (2016). The relationship between Facebook use and well-being depends
on
communication
type
and
tie
strength. Journal
of
computer-mediated
communication, 21(4), 265-281.
Burke, M., Marlow, C., & Lento, T. (2010, April). Social network activity and social well-being.
In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp.
1909-1912).
Cain, N., & Gradisar, M. (2010). Electronic media use and sleep in school-aged children and
adolescents: A review. Sleep medicine, 11(8), 735-742.
Chambers, D. (2013). Social media and personal relationships: Online intimacies and networked
friendship. Springer.
Chayko, M. (2012). Connecting: How we form social bonds and communities in the Internet age.
State University of New York Press.
Coyne, S. M., Rogers, A. A., Zurcher, J. D., Stockdale, L., & Booth, M. (2020). Does time spent
using social media impact mental health? An eight-year longitudinal study. Computers in
human behavior, 104, 106160.
Demirtepe-Saygili, D. (2020). Stress, coping, and social media use. In The psychology and
dynamics behind social media interactions (pp. 241-267). IGI Global.
Eisenberg, D., Hunt, J., & Speer, N. (2013). Mental health in American colleges and universities:
Variation across student subgroups and across campuses. The Journal of nervous and
mental disease, 201(1), 60-67.
Festinger, L. (1957). Social comparison theory. Selective Exposure Theory, 16(401), 3.
Franchina, V., & Lo Coco, G. (2018). The influence of social media uses on body image
concerns. International Journal of Psychoanalysis & Education, 10(1).
Gao, Q., Jia, G., Zhao, J., & Zhang, D. (2019). Inhibitory control in excessive social networking
users: Evidence from an event-related potential-based Go-No go task. Frontiers in
psychology, 10, 1810.
Gennaro, S., & Miller, B. (2021). Young people and social media: Contemporary children's digital
culture
Gilliland, M. J., Windle, M., Grunbaum, J. A., Yancey, A., Hoelscher, D., Tortolero, S. R., &
Schuster, M. A. (2007). Body image and children’s mental health related behaviors:
Results from the healthy passages study. Journal of pediatric psychology, 32(1), 30-41.
Hirschfeld, L. A. (2018). The Rutherford atom of culture. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 18(3-
4), 231-261.
Jackson, L. A., Von Eye, A., Barbatsis, G., Biocca, F., Zhao, Y., & Fitzgerald, H. E. (2003).
Internet attitudes and Internet use: Some surprising findings from the HomeNetToo
project. International journal of human-computer studies, 59(3), 355-382.
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities
of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1), 59-68.
Kirschner, P. A., & Karpinski, A. C. (2010). Facebook® and academic performance. Computers
in human behavior, 26(6), 1237-1245.
Lam, T. N., Jensen, D. B., Hovey, J. D. & Roley-Roberts, M. E. (2022). College students and
cyberbullying: how social media use affects social anxiety and social comparison.
Available at ScienceDirect Heliyon journal homepage: www.cell.com/heliyon.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12556
Lipson, S. K., Kern, A., Eisenberg, D., & Breland-Noble, A. M. (2018). Mental health disparities
among college students of color. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(3), 348-356.
Lipson, S. K., Lattie, E. G., & Eisenberg, D. (2019). Increased rates of mental health service
utilization by US college students: 10-year population-level trends (2007–
2017). Psychiatric services, 70(1), 60-63.
Manwell, L. A., Barbic, S. P., Roberts, K., Durisko, Z., Lee, C., Ware, E., & McKenzie, K. (2015).
What is mental health? Evidence towards a new definition from a mixed methods
multidisciplinary international survey. BMJ open, 5(6), e007079.
Mushtaq, A. J., & Benraghda, A. (2018). The effects of social media on the undergraduate
students’ academic performances. Library Philosophy and Practice, 4(1), 1-17.
Pempek, T. A., Yermolayeva, Y. A., & Calvert, S. L. (2009). College students' social networking
experiences on Facebook. Journal of applied developmental psychology, 30(3), 227-238.
Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: Theoretical
perspectives and an agenda for research. Sex roles, 71, 363-377.
Phillips, K. (2020). Mental illness is not anyone’s fault: A review of NAMI, the national alliance
on mental illness. Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, 24(1), 75-81
Primack, B. A., Shensa, A., Sidani, J. E., Whaite, E. O., Yi Lin, L., Rosen, D. & Miller, E. (2017).
Social media use and perceived social isolation among young adults in the US. American
journal of preventive medicine, 53(1), 1-8.
Schmitt, T. L., Sims-Giddens, S. S., & Booth, R. G. (2012). Social media use in nursing
education. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(3).
Schwartz-Lifshitz, M., Hertz-Palmor, N., Dekel, I., Balan-Moshe, L., Mekori-Domachevsky, E.,
Weisman, H. & Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (2022). Loneliness and social media use among
adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social
Networking, 25(6), 392-397.
Segado-Boj, F., Díaz-Campo, J., Fernández-Gómez, E., & Chaparro-Domínguez, M. (2019).
Spanish academics and social networking sites: Use, non-use, and the perceived advantages
and drawbacks of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, and Academia.edu.
Vol.24(5). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v24i5.729
Sinanan, J., & Gomes, C. (2020). ‘Everybody needs friends’: Emotions, social networks and digital
media in the friendships of international students. International Journal of Cultural
Studies, 23(5), 674-691.
Smith, E. E., & Storrs, H. (2023). Digital literacies, social media, and undergraduate learning: what
do students think they need to know? International Journal of Educational Technology in
Higher Education, 20(1), 29.
Stachowiak-Krzy?an, M. (2019). Social Media as a source of Information about universities
among candidates for studies. MINIB, 2019, Vol. 34(4), p. 65–88
Stoll, A., Ziegele, M., & Quiring, O. (2020). Detecting impoliteness and incivility in online
discussions: Classification approaches for German user comments. Computational
Communication Research, 2(1), 109-134.
Tiidenberg, K., Hendry, N. A., & Abidin, C. (2021). Tumblr. Digital Media and Society Series.
John Wiley & Sons.
Taddicken, M. (2014). The ‘privacy paradox’in the social web: The impact of privacy concerns,
individual characteristics, and the perceived social relevance on different forms of self-
disclosure. Journal of computer-mediated communication, 19(2), 248-273.
Tiggemann, M., & Anderberg, I. (2020). Social media is not real: The effect of ‘Instagram vs
reality’images on women’s social comparison and body image. New media &
society, 22(12), 2183-2199.

DOWNLOAD PDF

---

Back