Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Feb 27, 2020
Date Accepted: Aug 11, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Aug 15, 2020
Freshmen’s Compensatory Social Networking Site Use, Family Support, and Depression: A Three-wave Panel Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Freshmen were found to use SNSs as a useful medium to improve adjustment to college, which hints at a tendency to resort to SNSs for social compensation. However, compensatory use of SNSs are usually problematic.
Objective:
This study explores why a subgroup of freshmen develops depressive symptoms during social adjustment to college by investigating the antecedent role of introversion, the explanatory role of compensatory use of social networking sites (SNS), and the protective role of perceived family support.
Methods:
A three-wave panel sample of freshmen (N =1,137) were used to examine the moderated-mediation model.
Results:
We found that introversion at Wave 1 positively predicted compensatory use of SNSs at Wave 2 and subsequently increased depression at Wave 3 (B = .09, SE = .01, p < .001, 95% CI: .06/.12). The moderated mediation model further examined the buffering role of perceived family support within the link between introversion and compensatory SNS use (B = .03, SE = .01, p = .015, 95% CI: .01/.05). Unexpectedly, we found that family support in Wave 1 decreased compensatory SNS use by extroverted rather than introverted freshmen in Wave 2 and further decreased depression in Wave 3.
Conclusions:
The discussion of the results invokes incentive sensation theory and displacement theory to explain the causal mechanism and the moderation effect.
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