The link between Facebook addiction and depression among university students: Evidence from a lower‐middle income country

Background and Aims Among all the social media, Facebook is the most popular social networking site among students. That raises a chance of excessive Facebook usage being a form of addiction to hamper students' mental health. The primary goal of this study was to find the association of Faceboo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health science reports 2023-12, Vol.6 (12), p.e1755-n/a
Main Authors: Sarker, Md. Shamsuddin, Imtiaz, Asif, Haque, Shejuti, Mahmud, Kazi Tanvir
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictions
Bangladesh
Chronic illnesses
COVID-19
depression
Econometrics
Facebook addiction
Females
LMIC
Mental depression
Mental health
Original Research
Pandemics
Polls & surveys
Popularity
Questionnaires
Social networks
Sociodemographics
University Students
User behavior
Variables
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Summary:Background and Aims Among all the social media, Facebook is the most popular social networking site among students. That raises a chance of excessive Facebook usage being a form of addiction to hamper students' mental health. The primary goal of this study was to find the association of Facebook addiction with the depression level of university students during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Method Four hundred ten university students from Bangladesh were selected randomly as samples for this investigation. In this study, the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale and nine‐item Patient Health Questionnaire were used to assess the level of Facebook Addiction and depression status of the students, respectively. Ordered probit models were employed to identify the connection between Facebook addiction and depression. Ordinary least square models were utilized further to check the robustness of the findings. Results Ordered probit results confirm that Facebook addiction increases the likelihood of having heightened depression among university students. Besides, sex, household income, and history of being infected by COVID‐19 also appeared to be correlated with the depression level of the students. Conclusion Creating opportunities for students to participate in more physically demanding outdoor activities should be prioritized as it could ultimately enhance their capacity to mitigate depression. Appropriate measures must be taken to increase the number of recreational facilities on the campus for students, considering their age, gender, and preferences.
ISSN:2398-8835
2398-8835
DOI:10.1002/hsr2.1755