Mediators Between Adversity and Well-Being of College Students

Although the concurrent link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and both physical and mental health is established, little is known about the mechanisms that explain it. We investigated the relationship between ACEs and well-being and the mediating roles of coping, executive function (EF), and cognitive failure in a non-clinical sample of college students. Participants (N = 194) completed behavioral measures and self-reports. More than half of the sample had at least one ACE. Correlational and mediational analyses examined the relationships between ACEs, college adaptation, psychopathology, substance use, coping, and cognitive failure. ACEs did not correlate with indices of EF or cognitive failure, but there was a positive relationship between cognitive failure and negative coping. ACEs positively correlated with college adaptation, psychopathology, and substance abuse. There was a full mediation from ACE via negative coping and cognitive failure for college adaptation and psychopathology and via negative coping for alcohol and drug use. ACEs relate with reliance on negative coping which in turn predicts directly and indirectly, through cognitive failure, poor adaptation and heightened symptomatology for psychopathology

Smartphone Addiction and Its Relationship with Indices of Social-Emotional Distress and Personality

We examined the relationships among smartphone addiction, social-emotional distress (e.g., anxiety, depression, sleep quality, and loneliness), and personality traits among 150 undergraduate college students. Participants completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale, the Outcome Questionnaire-45.2, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the UCLA Loneliness Scale-3, and the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory-3. Results showed that the more students were addicted to their smartphone, the higher their reported social-emotional distress was. Additionally, logistic analyses supported the predictive nature of smartphone addiction on specific domains of social-emotional distress. Personality did not moderate the relationship between smartphone addiction and social-emotional distress. However, neuroticism had a positive relationship with smartphone addiction, while extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientious all had a negative relationship with smartphone addiction. Overall, these findings can inform assessment and interventions targeted at reducing smartphone use and improving mental health of college students. Research implications are also provided considering the infancy of studying the effects of smartphone use on psychological well-being

Corporatised Identities ≠ Digital Identities: Algorithmic Filtering on Social Media and the Commercialisation of Presentations of Self

Goffman’s (1959) dramaturgical identity theory requires modification when theorising about presentations of self on social media. This chapter contributes to these efforts, refining a conception of digital identities by differentiating them from ‘corporatised identities’. Armed with this new distinction, I ultimately argue that social media platforms’ production of corporatised identities undermines their users’ autonomy and digital well-being. This follows from the disentanglement of several commonly conflated concepts. Firstly, I distinguish two kinds of presentation of self that I collectively refer to as ‘expressions of digital identity’. These digital performances (boyd 2007) and digital artefacts (Hogan 2010) are distinct, but often confused. Secondly, I contend this confusion results in the subsequent conflation of corporatised identities – poor approximations of actual digital identities, inferred and extrapolated by algorithms from individuals’ expressions of digital identity – with digital identities proper. Finally, and to demonstrate the normative implications of these clarifications, I utilise MacKenzie’s (2014, 2019) interpretation of relational autonomy to propose that designing social media sites around the production of corporatised identities, at the expense of encouraging genuine performances of digital identities, has undermined multiple dimensions of this vital liberal value. In particular, the pluralistic range of authentic preferences that should structure flourishing human lives are being flattened and replaced by commercial, consumerist preferences. For these reasons, amongst others, I contend that digital identities should once again come to drive individuals’ actions on social media sites. Only upon doing so can individuals’ autonomy, and control over their digital identities, be rendered compatible with social media

Utilisation problématique de Facebook à l’adolescence et au jeune âge adulte

International audienceBackgroundToday, social networks and in particular Facebook, bring together many adolescents and young adults and offer new ways of communicating. However, these communication tools can lead to a problematic use and appears to be associated with psychopathological symptoms. Therefore, this problematic Facebook use (or Facebook addiction) is an emerging issue; few research studies have been conducted on these characteristics particularly among adolescents and young adults, and fewer within French samples.ObjectiveOur main objective was to compare psychopathological characteristics of problematic and non-problematic Facebook users, in terms of parental style, personality, psychopathological symptoms and motivations. We suppose problematic Facebook users are different from non-problematic users in terms of parental style, personality, psychopathological disorders and motives.Participants and methodFour hundred and fifty-six adolescents and young adults aged between 12 and 25-years-old [108 boys (24%); 348 girls (76%)] with a Facebook account completed an online questionnaire consisting of several scales : the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) designed to Facebook problematic use, the questionnaire of motivations for using Facebook, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D10), the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A), the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS), the borderline personality scale of the PDQ-4 and the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI).ResultsTwelve percent of girls and 5% of boys had a problematic Facebook use. Principal motivations for Facebook use were relationship maintenance, entertainment and passing time for problematic and non-problematic Facebook users. Problematic Facebook users (n = 47) had significant higher scores for each motivation of Facebook use (P < 0.001) and for depressive symptomatology (P < 0.001), social anxiety (P < 0.001), borderline personality traits (P < 0.001) and perceived control from the mother (P = 0.01), and a significant lower score for perceived care from the mother (P = 0.03).ConclusionProblematic Facebook use concerns a significant minority of adolescents and young adults, and more significantly women. Nevertheless, problematic Facebook users were characterized by a higher level of psychopathological symptoms compared to non-problematic Facebook users. Results suggest the need of achieving more researches on this field and preventing this specific Facebook problematic use.ContexteL’utilisation problématique de Facebook (ou addiction à Facebook) se présente comme une problématique émergente, encore peu étudiée au sein d’échantillons français.ObjectifComparer les caractéristiques psychopathologiques des utilisateurs problématiques et non problématiques de Facebook.Participants et méthodeQuatre cent cinquante-six adolescents et jeunes adultes âgés de 12 à 25 ans possédant un compte Facebook ont complété un questionnaire en ligne comprenant plusieurs échelles : l’Internet Addiction Test (IAT) adapté à Facebook et des questionnaires mesurant les symptômes de dépression, d’anxiété sociale, et les traits de la personnalité limite du DSM-IV.RésultatsDouze pour cent des participantes et 5 % des participants avaient une utilisation problématique de Facebook. Les utilisateurs problématiques avaient des scores significativement plus élevés de motivations à l’utilisation de Facebook, de symptomatologie dépressive, d’anxiété sociale, de traits de la personnalité limite du DSM-IV.ConclusionL’utilisation problématique de Facebook concerne une minorité significative d’usagers adolescents et jeunes adultes caractérisés par un niveau élevé de symptômes psychopathologiques

Facebook usage and mental health: An empirical study of role of non-directional social comparisons in the UK

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd The present paper explores the relationship between nature of Facebook usage, non-directional comparisons and depressive syndromes. The extant research on linkage between social media usage and mental health is inconclusive. The paper uses data collected through an online survey of 399 Facebook users in the UK. A Facebook frequency rating scale was developed and validated as a part of the study. The Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure was modified and used to measure social comparison. The depressive syndromes were captured by the modified Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The Rank Theory of Depression was used a guiding framework. The data collection had focused on the 20–29 year olds, as justified by the literature. The study found a negative relationship between active Facebook use and non-directional social comparisons. The relationship was reversed in the case of passive usage. There is small but significant causal linkage between increased non-directional social comparisons and depressive symptoms among the users