Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Mar;24(1):90-3.

Association between online social networking and depression in high school students: behavioral physiology viewpoint

Igor Pantic  1 , Aleksandar Damjanovic, Jovana Todorovic, Dubravka Topalovic, Dragana Bojovic-Jovic, Sinisa Ristic, Senka Pantic
Affiliations
  • PMID: 22447092
Free article

Association between online social networking and depression in high school students: behavioral physiology viewpoint

Igor Pantic et al. Psychiatr Danub. 2012 Mar.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Frequent use of Facebook and other social networks is thought to be associated with certain behavioral changes, and some authors have expressed concerns about its possible detrimental effect on mental health. In this work, we investigated the relationship between social networking and depression indicators in adolescent population.

Subjects and methods: Total of 160 high school students were interviewed using an anonymous, structured questionnaire and Back Depression Inventory - second edition (BDI-II-II). Apart from BDI-II-II, students were asked to provide the data for height and weight, gender, average daily time spent on social networking sites, average time spent watching TV, and sleep duration in a 24-hour period.

Results: Average BDI-II-II score was 8.19 (SD=5.86). Average daily time spent on social networking was 1.86 h (SD=2.08 h), and average time spent watching TV was 2.44 h (SD=1.74 h). Average body mass index of participants was 21.84 (SD=3.55) and average sleep duration was 7.37 (SD=1.82). BDI-II-II score indicated minimal depression in 104 students, mild depression in 46 students, and moderate depression in 10 students. Statistically significant positive correlation (p<0.05, R=0.15) was found between BDI-II-II score and the time spent on social networking.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that online social networking is related to depression. Additional research is required to determine the possible causal nature of this relationship.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources