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Facebook is widely used by the college population, and previous research has shown that mental health references on Facebook are common. Focus groups of college students were held to determine their views of mental health references seen in their peers’ Facebook profiles. Students’ views of mental health references varied from being serious calls for help, to being jokes or attention-seeking behavior. Responses to mental health references depended on the participants’ offline relationship with the poster. Students would contact close friends through a phone call or in-person conversation, but would not approach acquaintances. The prevalence of mental health references on Facebook, and the awareness of these references by college students, may present opportunities for future peer intervention efforts.

Background: Depression is common and consequential among adolescents. Previous work has found varied relationships between depression and internet use. The purpose of this study was to examine internet use and depression by applying a rigorous assessment tool: experience sampling method (ESM). Methods: Older adolescents between the ages of 18 and 23 years were recruited from a large state university. Participants received 6 text message surveys randomly each day during a 7-day ESM campaign. Survey questions assessed whether they were currently online and for how long. Participants also completed the PHQ-9 depression survey. Calculation of internet use time included multilevel modeling and probability modeling. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) assessed the association between internet use and depression. Results: Among our 189 participants, the mean age was 18.9 (SD = .9), 58.8% were female and most were Caucasian (90.5%). Total daily internet use time was calculated as 66 minutes by ESM summary, 55 minutes by ESM modeling and 65 minutes by probability modeling. We found a difference in PHQ-9 scores when comparing low daily internet use (<30 minutes), regular use (30 minutes to 3 hours) and high use (>3 hours) (p = .01) with a significant U-shaped association (p = .004). The high use group had a mean PHQ-9 score of 7.3 (SD = 5.1) compared to the regular use group score of 4.9 (SD = 3.9) (p = .02). Conclusions: Results suggest a U shaped association between internet use and depression. These findings may present statistical differences that lack clinical significance.

Objective: Almost a third of college students are obese, placing them at risk for adult obesity and its complications. Internet use may be one factor contributing to college student obesity. The purpose of this study was to examine associations of college student internet use with physical activity and fitness. Methods: Older adolescents between 18 and 23 years were recruited from a large university. Using experience sampling method, participants received 6 randomly-timed text message surveys for 7 days. Survey questions assessed whether they were currently online, for how long and current online activities. Participants also completed the International Physical Activity questionnaire and reported their body mass index. Multivariate models assessed the association of internet use with physical activity and fitness. Results: Among 189 participants, the mean age was 18.9 (SD = 0.9), 58.8% were female and most were Caucasian (90.5%). Greater internet use was associated with fewer days per week of vigorous intensity exercise (p < 0.001). Participants who spent less than 1 hour/day online reported a mean of 3.2 days per week of vigorous intensity exercise (SD = 2.0), those with 3 or more hours online daily reported 1.4 (SD = 2.1). Those who reported internet activities focused on academics reported increased days of vigorous intensity exercise compared to those who reported internet activity focused on social networking sites (p < 0.001). Conclusions: There were no significant associations between internet use time and BMI. Findings suggest that both online time and particular online activities may be associated with decreased vigorous physical activity. Future efforts should consider reframing internet use guidelines for this population around both time and activities.

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