International students’ psychosocial well-being and social media use at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: A latent profile analysis

Abstract

This study examined the link between the psychosocial well-being and social media use of international students in the US at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when social isolation was mandated. Unlike prior research, which has typically focused on a single aspect of psychosocial well-being, we conceptualized international students' well-being as a multidimensional construct including internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, loneliness) as well as markers of intercultural difficulties. We then investigated social media use as a function of international students’ idiosyncratic well-being vulnerabilities. A latent profile analysis revealed four groups with distinctive psychosocial profiles: well-adjusted students, interculturally adjusted students with internalizing symptoms, students with low internalizing symptoms but high intercultural difficulties, and maladjusted students with high internalizing symptoms and high intercultural difficulties. Supporting the social compensation perspective, maladjusted international students reported the highest engagement with social media compared to the other groups. These findings shed light on the unique and heterogenous experiences of international students at the onset of the pandemic. They also add nuance to the social compensation hypothesis by delineating person-specific associations between psychosocial well-being and social media use.