Sharing, Liking, Commenting, and Distressed? The Pathway Between Facebook Interaction and Psychological Distress
Open accessAbstract
Studies on the mental health implications of social media have generated mixed results. Drawing on a survey of college students ( N =513), this research uses structural equation modeling to assess the relationship between Facebook interaction and psychological distress and two underlying mechanisms: communication overload and self-esteem. It is the first study, to our knowledge, that examines how communication overload mediates the mental health implications of social media. Frequent Facebook interaction is associated with greater distress directly and indirectly via a two-step pathway that increases communication overload and reduces self-esteem. The research sheds light on new directions for understanding psychological well-being in an increasingly mediated social world as users share, like, and comment more and more.
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People addicted to social media and the internet in general suffer emotional deficits including depression, low self-esteem, social anxiety, alienation from family and peers, hostility toward others, and poor interpersonal relationships.
“Those who are addicted to social media, and to the internet in general, suffer a number of emotional deficits, including depression, low self-esteem, social anxiety, alienation from family and peers, hostility toward others, and poor interpersonal relationships”
From Ethics of the Attention Economy: The Problem of Social Media Addiction (2021) · cites this paper as Chen & Lee, 2013
Higher levels of social media use are associated with psychological distress.
“A wealth of evidence suggests higher levels of social media use are associated with symptoms of anxiety [3-5], symptoms of depression [3,6-8], decreased psychological well-being [9], lower self-esteem [3], psychological distress [10-12], and loneliness [5].”
From Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents and Young Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. (2022) · cites this paper as [11]
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References 51 · Cited by 275
- Authors
- Chen, W., & Lee, K.-H.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, Wenhong
- ORCID
- Chen, Wenhong
- Venue
- Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-06-07
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 728-734
- ISSN
- 2152-2715 (ISSN-L)
- 2152-2723
- OpenAlex
- W2017596542
- Cited by
- 275
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 42.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Texas ScholarWorks (Texas Digital Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Texas Digital Library (University of Texas)
- Funders
- University of Texas at Austin
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
- Keywords
- psychological distress, social media use, communication overload, self-esteem, university students, social media and mental health
- MeSH terms
- Communication, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Models, Psychological, Psychological Tests, Self Concept, Stress, Psychological, Social Media
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