PurposeThis study investigated the relationship between generalised trust and psychological well-being in college students, considering the social support obtained from their social networks via Twitter and face-to-face (FTF) interactions. Initially, the authors planned to collect data at the beginning of the first semester in 2019 for fine-tuning the model as a pilot study, and in 2020 for the main study. However, due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the data helped authors to analyse changes in young people's psychological situation before and during the pandemic in Japan.Design/methodology/approachThe study conducted a self-report survey targeting college students in the Kanto region in Japan. Data were collected from mid-May to the end of June 2019, as well as in early to mid-June 2020, with 304 and 584 responses, respectively. The collected data were analysed using structural equation modelling and a multiple regression analysis.FindingsThe findings using the 2019 data set indicated that (a) students mostly used Twitter for information gathering and sharing of hobbies, and they received both informatics and emotional support from Twitter, and from FTF interactions; (b) there were direct positive effects of generalised trust and social skills on their psychological well-being; and (c) students with lower levels of generalised trust tended to interact with very intimate individuals using Twitter to obtain social support, which did not have any effects on their improvement of psychological well-being. From the 2020 data set, the authors also found that, like 2019, generalised trust and social skills had direct effects on the improvement of psychological well-being. Additionally, we observed that students spent more time using Twitter and received more emotional support from it, as most people tried not to meet other people in person due to the first State of Emergency in Japan. Similarly, the authors found that in 2019, only social support from very intimate partners via FTF communication had slightly significant effects on improving their psychological well-being, whereas in 2020, their expectation for social networks via FTF had decreased their levels of psychological well-being, but their social support from Twitter had slightly significant effects on their improvement of psychological well-being. One of the main reasons for this might be due to the challenge of meeting with others in person, and therefore, social support from Twitter partially played a role that traditionally was only beneficial through FTF communication.Originality/valueWe understand that this is one of the few social psychological studies on social media that collected data both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides unique evidence in demonstrating how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed college students communication behaviours.

Purpose This study aims to clarify the effects of different patterns of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram usage on user loneliness and well-being in Japan. Design/methodology/approach Based on responses to a self-report questionnaire in Japan, 155 university students were separated into 4 groups: users of Twitter only, users of Twitter and Facebook, users of Twitter and Instagram and users of all three social media. The effects of social media usage on loneliness and well-being for each group were analysed. Findings No social media usage effects on loneliness or well-being were detected for those who used only Twitter or both Twitter and Instagram. For those using both Twitter and Facebook, loneliness was reduced when users accessed Twitter and Facebook more frequently but was increased when they posted more tweets. Users of all three social media were lonelier and had lower levels of well-being when they accessed Facebook via PC longer; whereas their their access time of Facebook via smartphones helped them decrease loneliness and improve their levels of well-being. Originality/value The findings reported here provide possible explanations for the conflicting results reported in previous research by exploring why users choose different social media platforms to communicate with different groups of friends or acquaintances and different usage patterns that affect their loneliness and well-being.

Research suggests that there are two kinds of trust, generalized trust and particularistic trust. This study focuses on international students studying in Japan and investigates the relationship between their generalized trust of others, the social support they receive from both Japanese people and same-language speakers, and their sense of acceptance (SOA). A self-reported questionnaire survey was conducted, producing 206 valid responses. Multiple regression analysis showed that the respondents' self-esteem, generalized trust of others, and social support from Japanese people and same-language speakers all had significant effects on SOA. Structural equation modeling analysis showed that self-esteem not only had strong direct effects on SOA, but also had strong effects on an individual's generalized trust of others, which had mediating effects on social support from Japanese people and on SOA. However, no similar mediating effect on SOA was detected when the social support was from the same-language speakers. Implications of the study's findings are discussed. Index Terms-International students in Japan, trust, social support networks (SSN), sense of acceptance (SOA). International students (ISs) who study abroad may feel strong assurance towards other ISs, especially those from the same country, since they are considered to be "in-group" members; they may have a lower level of generalized trust of others, especially local residents (hosts), who are "out-group" members due to cultural differences, language boundaries, communication behaviors, and so on. In addition, the cultural distance may be different among different countries [6]. Furthermore, [7] and [8] suggested that increasing communication with their hosts would be an effective way for ISs to better adapt to the Japanese culture. Forming stable and fruitful relationships with Japanese people is likely to lead to an enhanced ability to cope with stress and improve and accelerate adaptation. Such beneficial relationships are known as "social support networks" (SSN). SSN is a general psychological term that indicates personal relationships expected to provide both tangible and intangible support and promote intercultural adaptation. Studies suggested that including more Japanese people in their SSNs will help ISs acquire Japanese-style social skills, and therefore improve their intercultural adaptation. However, [9] indicated that, while face-to-face communication decreased the maladaptation of ISs, communication through voice calls, instant messaging or emails had no such effect, as communication with social networks via these means tended to include more same-language speakers than Japanese. Regarding the ISs' social support received from others, [10] developed a scale for Chinese students in Japan

This study examined the relationships between expressions in Tweets, topic choices, and subjective well-being among undergraduates in Japan. The authors conducted a survey with 304 college students and analyzed their Twitter posts using natural language processing (NLP). Based on those who posted over 50 tweets, the authors found that (1) users with higher levels of social skills had fewer negative tweets and higher levels of subjective well-being; (2) frequent users posted both positive and negative tweets but posted more negative than positive tweets; (3) users with fewer negative tweets or with more positive tweets had higher levels of subjective well-being; and (4) “safe” topics such as social events and personal interests had a positive correlation with the users' subjective well-being, while debatable topics such as politics and social issues had a negative correlation with the users' subjective well-being. The findings of this study provide the foundation for applying NLP to analyze the social media posts for businesses and services to understand their consumers' sentiments.

Abstract-Previous IndexTerms-International students in Japan, communication media, social support networks, maladaptation, panel survey.