Exploring the link between daily stress, depression, and Facebook addiction disorder

Researchers have demonstrated a close positive association between daily stress, depression symptoms, and Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD). High daily stress can lead individuals to turn to Facebook use as a coping strategy, with depression symptoms serving as a moderator of this association, according to a study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

The article entitled "Relationship Between Daily Stress, Depression Symptoms, and Facebook Addiction Disorder in Germany and in the United States" was coauthored by Julia Brailovskaia, Julia Velten, and Jürgen Margaf, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. The researchers studied a population of students in Germany and an older sample of mostly employed individuals in the U.S. to broaden the relevance of their findings. They propose that, while people with higher levels of depression symptoms who tend to feel more overwhelmed by everyday life may have some improvement in mood by using Facebook use in the short term, in the long term it increases the risk of developing FAD, negatively impacting well-being.

"Extending previous research to include different age groups is important to determine if results based on student populations generalize to other demographics in FAD," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium.