Facebook, Quality of Life, and Mental Health Outcomes in Post-Disaster Urban Environments: The L’Aquila Earthquake Experience
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BACKGROUND: An understudied area of interest in post-disaster public health is individuals' use of social networks as a potential determinant of quality of life (QOL) and mental health outcomes. A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out to examine whether continual use of online social networking (Facebook) in an adult population following a massive earthquake was correlated with prevalence of depression and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and QOL outcomes. METHODS: Participants were a sample of 890 adults aged 25-54 who had been exposed to the L'Aquila earthquake of 2009. Definition of "user" required a daily connection to the Facebook online social network for more than 1 h per day from at least 2 years. Depression and PTSD were assessed using the Screening Questionnaire for Disaster Mental Health. QOL outcomes were measured using the World Health Organisation Quality of Life BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) instrument. Logistic regression was carried out to calculate the prevalence odds ratios (POR) for social network use and other covariates. RESULTS: Two hundred and twenty one of 423 (52.2%) men, and 195 of 383 (50.9%) women, had been using Facebook as social network for at least 2 years prior to our assessment. Social network use correlated with both depression and PTSD, after adjusting for gender. A halved risk of depression was found in users vs. non-users (POR 0.50 ± 0.16). Similarly, a halved risk of PTSD in users vs. non-users (POR 0.47 ± 0.14) was found. Both men and women using online social networks had significantly higher QOL scores in the psychological and social domains of the WHOQOL-BREF. CONCLUSION: Social network use among adults 25-54 years old has a positive impact on mental health and QOL outcomes in the years following a disaster. The use of social networks may be an important tool for coping with the mental health outcomes of disruptive natural disasters, helping to maintain, if not improve, QOL in terms of social relationships and psychological distress.
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Positive correlations were found between depression and Facebook impression management, envy triggered by Facebook surveillance, accepting former partners' invitations to become Facebook friends, producing more content or engaging in greater interactive communication on Facebook, social comparison with others, and frequent negative status updates or negative comparison with others leading to rumen
“In relation to type of online social networking behaviour, positive correlations were found between Facebook impression management, 32 envy triggered by Facebook surveillance, 31 accepting former partners' invitations to become Facebook friends, 45 producing more content or engaging in greater interactive communication on Facebook, 46 social comparison with others, 39,47 and frequent negative”
From The Relationship Between Online Social Networking and Depression: A Systematic Review of Quantitative Studies (2016) · cites this paper as [31]
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- Authors
- Masedu, F., Mazza, M., Di Giovanni, C., Calvarese, A., Tiberti, S., Sconci, V., & Valenti, M.
- Affiliations
- University of L'Aquila (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Valenti, Marco
- Venue
- Frontiers in Public Health
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2014-12-22
- Volume
- 2
- Pages
- 286-286
- ISSN
- 2296-2565 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4273552
- OpenAlex
- W2090656552
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 1.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi dell Aquila (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Università degli Studi dell'Aquila
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Keywords
- Facebook, online social networking, social media use, disaster mental health, 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, quality of life, natural disasters, coping, interpersonal relationships
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