Citation

Huang C. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Netw. 2017; 20(6): 346-354.

Affiliation

Graduate Institute of Education, National Changhua University of Education , Changhua, Taiwan .

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/cyber.2016.0758

PMID

28622031

Abstract

This meta-analysis examines the relationship between time spent on social networking sites and psychological well-being factors, namely self-esteem, life satisfaction, loneliness, and depression. Sixty-one studies consisting of 67 independent samples involving 19,652 participants were identified. The mean correlation between time spent on social networking sites and psychological well-being was low at r = -0.07. The correlations between time spent on social networking sites and positive indicators (self-esteem and life satisfaction) were close to 0, whereas those between time spent on social networking sites and negative indicators (depression and loneliness) were weak. The effects of publication outlet, site on which users spent time, scale of time spent, and participant age and gender were not significant. As most included studies used student samples, future research should be conducted to examine this relationship for adults.

Language: en

Keywords

meta-analysis; psychological well-being; social networking site