Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37237363›Full record

ArticleBMC psychiatry2023

Does social media usage ameliorate loneliness in rural youth? A cross sectional pilot study.

Lachlan Gregory, Tegan Dutton, Uchechukwu Levi Osuagwu, Robyn Vines

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In one paragraph

Article in BMC psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Lachlan GregoryBathurst Rural Clinical School, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Bathurst, NSW, 2795, Australia.
Tegan DuttonBathurst Rural Clinical School, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Bathurst, NSW, 2795, Australia.
Uchechukwu Levi OsuagwuBathurst Rural Clinical School, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Bathurst, NSW, 2795, Australia. l.osuagwu@westernsydney.edu.au.
Robyn VinesBathurst Rural Clinical School, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Bathurst, NSW, 2795, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimTo investigate the relationship between social media use and loneliness and psychological wellbeing of youth in rural New South Wales.

designThis was a web-based cross-sectional survey.

methodsThe survey consisted of 33 items including demography (12 items), participants' social media use (9 items), mood and anxiety (6 items), perceived loneliness (6 items), the impact of COVID-19 on social media usage or perceived loneliness (2 items). The participants' mood and anxiety were evaluated using the psychological distress tool (K6), while loneliness was measured using the De Jong Gierveld 6-item scale. Total loneliness and psychological distress scores were compared between demographic variables.

resultsA total of 47 participants, aged 16-24 years took part in the study. The majority were women (68%) and many had K6 score that was indicative of psychological distress (68%). About half of the participants indicated that Facebook (FB) was their most used social media platform and two in five participants were on social media within 10 min of waking up each day, about 30% spent more than 20 h per week on social media, and more than two-third sent private messages, images, or videos, multiple times a day. The mean loneliness score was 2.89 (range, 0 to 6), with 0 being 'not lonely' and 6 being 'intense social loneliness'. One-way ANOVA and χ2 test results showed that those who used FB most frequently had significantly higher mean scores for loneliness compared to those that used other social media platforms (p = 0.015). Linear regression analysis revealed that those who commonly used FB were more likely to report higher loneliness scores (coefficient = -1.45, 95%CI -2.63, -0.28, p = 0.017), while gender (p = 0.039), age (p = 0.048), household composition (p = 0.023), and education level (p = 0.014) were associated with severe psychological distress.

conclusionsThe study found that social media usage, particularly FB, as measured by time used and active or passive engagement with the medium, was significantly linked to loneliness, with some impact on psychological distress. Social media use within ten minutes of waking increased the likelihood of psychological distress. However, neither loneliness nor psychological distress were associated with rurality among the rural youth in this study.

Indexed as

COVID-19Social MediaAdolescentCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansLonelinessMalePilot ProjectsFacebookLonelinessPsychological distressRuralSocial mediaYouth

Identifiers

PMID37237363
PMCPMC10214363

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.