Examining the Relationships Between Social Media Use Constructs and Mental and Sleep Health in Hispanic University Emerging Adults
Abstract
The number of social media users and platforms have increased dramatically in recent years. Several different social media use constructs have developed from past research to assess social media engagement, including overall social media use, nighttime in-bed social media use, social media addiction, social media self-control failure, and emotional investment in social media. Such constructs are distinct from each other and may adversely impact mental and sleep health, especially during emerging adulthood. This study investigated the relationships between such social media use constructs and mental and sleep health in Hispanic university emerging adults through a framework of Uses and Gratifications Theory. Three hundred and fifty-eight Hispanic university emerging adults completed a cross-sectional online survey assessing sociodemographics, overall social media use frequency, nighttime in-bed social media use, social media addiction, social media self-control failure, emotional investment in social media, depression, anxiety, stress, and sleep quality. It was hypothesized that the above social media use constructs of interest would be positively associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and poor sleep quality after controlling for participant age and sex. Four multiple linear regression models were performed to test hypotheses. Hypotheses were partially supported such that social media addiction was positively associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and poor sleep quality, and social media self-control failure was positively associated with anxiety, stress, and poor sleep quality. These findings indicate that Hispanic university emerging adults may use social media problematically to cope with pre-existing poor mental and sleep health or that poor mental and sleep health stem from using social media problematically. Assessing problematic forms of social media use seems vital in clinical settings. Future studies may wish to investigate these observed relationships longitudinally to establish temporality.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology|Internet and social media studies|Mental health
Recommended Citation
Garcia, Miguel Andres, "Examining the Relationships Between Social Media Use Constructs and Mental and Sleep Health in Hispanic University Emerging Adults" (2024). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI30992258.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI30992258