Association between Social Media Use and Depression among Saudi Population

Abstract

Background: Social media (SM) use is increasing among young adults in Saudi Arabia, and it's becoming an integral part of everyday life. It is thought that social media use is associated with certain behavioral changes, and some authors have shown concerns about its possible effect on mental health. In this study, we investigated the relationship between social media use and depression indicators among adult population in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A total of 618 adults were surveyed about SM and depression with an age range of 16 to 40 years. SM use was assessed by self-reported total number of hours per day spent on social networking. And depression was assessed using Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) scale. Also participants were asked to provide data on personal and family history of psychiatric disorders, drug abuse, and demographic data. Descriptive frequencies, Chi-squared tests and ordered logistic regressions were performed on data for analysis using SPSS software version 20.0. Results: Average daily time spent on social networking was 4 hours with standard deviation (SD) of 1.05 hour. Twitter, Snapchat and whatsapp were the most visited social networking applications by participants (85.7%, 74.2% and 67. 2%, respectively). BDI-II score indicated no depression in 572 participants, mild depression in 40 participants, and moderate to severe depression in 4 participants. Compared to those with lowest total hours per day spent on SM, participants with highest total hours per day spent on SM had significantly higher scores of BDI-II (AOR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.09-2.42). Conclusion: Our results indicate that frequent use of social media is related to depression. Additional research is required to determine the possible causal nature of this relationship.