This study used an online survey to understand the relationships between social media engagement, loneliness, well-being, perceived social support, and social comparison.
Authors
Benson Rajan, Associate Professor, Jindal School of Journalism & Communication, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Pooja Nair, Sangath, Saidullajab, New Delhi, India.
Saindhavi Venkataraman, Faculty for Psychology, S. V. K. M. International, Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Summary
As the people around the globe suffered physically, relationally, emotionally, and financially in response to the COVID-19 crisis and accompanying social distancing mandates, they often turned to social media to cope.
This study used an online survey to understand the relationships between social media engagement, loneliness, well-being, perceived social support, and social comparison with an Indian sample (N = 364).
Correlations showed significant associations between all variables of interest, with the exception of social media engagement and perceived social support.
Partial correlations revealed that an association between social media engagement and loneliness disappeared when social comparison orientation was controlled for; however, an inverse relationship between social media engagement and well-being remained, even when social comparison orientation was accounted for.
Published in: Psychology of Popular Media
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