Frequency and quality of social networking among young adults: Associations with depressive symptoms, rumination, and corumination.

Associations between social networking and depressive symptoms among youth indicated that depressive symptoms were associated with quality of social networking interactions, not quantity, and there was some evidence that depressive rumination moderated associations.

Abstract

Two studies examined associations between social networking and depressive symptoms among youth. In Study 1, 384 participants (68% female; mean age = 20.22 years, SD = 2.90) were surveyed. In Study 2, 334 participants (62% female; M age = 19.44 years, SD = 2.05) were surveyed initially and 3 weeks later. Results indicated that depressive symptoms were associated with quality of social networking interactions, not quantity. There was some evidence that depressive rumination moderated associations, and both depressive rumination and corumination were associated with aspects of social networking usage and quality. Implications for understanding circumstances that increase social networking, as well as resulting negative interactions and negative affect are discussed.