Social media use and psychological stress levels: A study among NaUKMA (National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”) students

Kateryna Maltseva - PhD (2003, Philosophy), PhD (2010, Anthropology); Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, NaUKMA; affiliated research scientist, University of Connecticut, USA, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

Roman Lyubenko - student of sociology, NaUKMA, Kyiv

Abstract. Nowadays, the scale of the influence the social networking sites have on the daily lives of individuals are difficult to overstate. It is particularly true in the case of young people and college students. One of the notable tendencies characterizing the situation of these social cohorts in the context of social networking sites use is a marked increase in mental health problems, regardless of gender, particularly in juncture with stress level augmentation. In this vein, an empirical investigation into online networking and stress among the student population is a reasonable research step. Our present research explores the nature of the links between social websites’ use and subjective stress levels among the student body across several different majors at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Kyiv, Ukraine). The project combined qualitative and quantitative strategies of data collection and analysis. The quantitative phase of the project (a self-administered survey, n = 166) collected cognitive and behavioral data in self-reports format that were used to test a series of hypotheses exploring the relationships between the constructs discussed above. We show that most of the students surveyed in our study typically were consumers of multiple online networking services, on average investing in the activity a total of over 3 hours per day. However, our results indicate no statistically significant links between subjective stress levels and the patterns of social networking sites’ use that were the focus of our research. To further develop this research problem, it is necessary to thoroughly study the prostration of certain methods of online communication and the types of their use by the representatives of different social groups.

Keywords: stress, social networking sites, social support.

Publication in: ukr | rus

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