Sad-fishing: Understanding a maladaptive social media behavior in college students

• Published in: Journal of American college health 2024-11, Vol.72 (8), p.2352-2356
• Main Authors: Petrofes, Cara, Howard, Krista, Mayberry, Azucena, Bitney, Catherine, Ceballos, Natalie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anxiety - psychology; Anxiety disorders; Attachment style; College students; Emotions; Female; Fish; Fishermen; Fishing; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Perceived social support; Psychological aspects; Social media; Social Media - statistics & numerical data; Social Support; Students - psychology; Students - statistics & numerical data; Surveys and Questionnaires; Sympathy; United States; Universities; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0744-8481; 1940-3208; 1940-3208
• DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2022.2132110

We investigated psychological factors that might predispose individuals to sad-fish or exaggerate their emotional state online to generate sympathy. : Participants (  = 347) were collegiate social media users from a large university in the Southcentral United States. Participants completed an anonymous online survey and were categorized as sad-fishers or non-sad-fishers. Groups were compared on attachment style and levels of interpersonal and online social support. Sad-fishers trended toward anxious attachment. Groups did not differ on perceived interpersonal or online social support. Anxious attachment was significantly negatively associated with interpersonal support. Sad-fishing may not be triggered by an acute perceived lack of social support, but rather, may be more strongly related to the persistent trait of anxious attachment. This is a starting-point for understanding the relatively new phenomenon of sad-fishing and may aid in discerning how best to clinically intervene with those who sad-fish.