Social Media Usage and Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Study in Pakistan

Abstract

Excessive social media usage can be harmful to the mental health of individuals. The core objective of the study was to inspect the effects of social media usage on mental health. Secondly, to find out the mean differences of gender, social media and mental health. A cross-sectional research design was utilized to fulfil the study objectives. n=1067 students from six different universities in Punjab, Pakistan, were selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Data was collected through an adapted questionnaire comprised of three distinct parts, i.e. socio-demographic profile, social media integration scale by Maree (2017) and Goldberg depression scale (1993), to check the social media effects on mental health among youth. Attained replies were analyzed by using SPSS analysis software version 21. Furthermore, to check the direction and consistency of the relationship among these variables, Pearson correlation was applied, which demonstrated a negative relationship between social media usage and mental health problems at p<.000. This study concluded a negative influence of excessive social media usage on mental health among youth in public universities of Punjab, Pakistan.