The Relationship Between Social Media, Anxiety, and Depression

Indianapolis, IN

This study examines how social media use is related to depression and anxiety. Depression is measured using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (Zung, 1971), and anxiety is measured using the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (Zung, 1965). Both online scales consist of 20 Likert-type items, with a total possible score of 80. The participants of this study will take both of these assessments online, along with the Social Media Disorder Scale to measure their social media usage. This is an online assessment, consisting of 9 items, that distinguishes between healthy and unhealthy social media habits. Participants will also be asked to report how much of their cell phone battery usage in the past 24 hours and 7 days (both statistics are reported in iPhone settings) is accounted for by social media usage. Anxiety and depression scores will be compared with social media disorder scores and battery usage reports to determine correlations. Participants will be drawn from the undergraduate students at Huntington University and Utah Valley University.