Review articleIs social network site usage related to depression? A meta-analysis of Facebook–depression relations
Section snippets
Search process1
Articles published by February 2018 were retrieved, using PsychInfo, PubMed, and ProQuest dissertations & Theses Global. In addition, a supplemental search was conducted using Google Scholar. The following keywords were searched with depress or depression or depressive (within all text fields): social media or online social networks or Facebook or Snapchat or Instagram or Twitter (within abstract in PsychInfo and within titles in ProQuest). For the SNS usage analyses (aims 1 and 2), studies
SNS usage analyses
For the time spent on SNS analysis, 33 studies with 37 effect sizes were included. The total sample was 15,881 (mean sample size = 429.22, range = 26–2073). Three studies did not report the mean age and three studies reported an age range. The mean age across samples was 21.89, and the mean female participant ratio was approximately 59%. For the SNS checking frequency analysis, 12 studies with 14 effect sizes were included. The total sample of participants was 8041 (mean sample size = 574.36,
Discussion
This study conducted four meta-analyses relating SNS usage and depression. The first two analyses investigated the Facebook depression phenomenon by examining the relationships between depression and the time spent on SNS and SNS checking frequency. To further extend the literature and examine whether social comparisons made on SNS might help explain the Facebook depression phenomenon, two additional meta-analyses were conducted on general and upward social comparisons made by participants on
Acknowledgments
None.
Role of funding sources
This research received no specific grants from any funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Contributors
Sunkyung Yoon conducted literature searches, statistical analysis, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Mary Kleinman and Jessica Mertz conducted literature searches, contributed to writing the introduction section, and assisted in proof-reading the manuscript. Michael T. Brannick contributed to statistical analysis and writing. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.
Conflict of interest
We declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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