Browsing by Author "Toroskainen, Niko"

Objectives Social media is a modern phenomenon that influences youth around the world. Although the potential negative consequences of its use on psychological wellbeing have provoked concern, research findings on the effects remain mixed. It is possible that individual differences in personality can explain the differing results around the topic. The effects of personality in the association between social media use and psychological wellbeing remain to be investigated, however. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between social media use, personality and psychological distress in youth. Methods The sample of this study (n = 3976) consisted of youth aged 18 - 25 who participated in the British survey “Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study” and reported using social media. In a cross-sectional design, social media use was assessed using one question, psychological distress using General Health Questionnaire and personality using Big Five Inventory Short Version. The associations were analyzed using hierarchical linear and logistic regression analyses. First, the association between social media use and psychological distress was analyzed. Next, personality was included as a predictor in the model. In the last step, an interaction term for social media use and personality was added to the model. Personality was examined both as specific traits and as personality profiles that combine multiple traits. The personality profiles were extracted using latent profile analysis. Results and Conclusions High social media use and higher psychological distress were found to be linked with each other. Analyzing the interaction effects, an interaction was found for extraversion. Very high social media use was linked to considerably higher psychological distress, but only among introverts. As for extroverts, there was no connection at all between the two. In addition to the interaction, suggestive effects were found for neurotiscm and conscientiousness, indicating that the traits are related to both social media use and psychological distress. In the latent profile analysis, three personality profiles were extracted from the sample, and named resilient, excitable and average. The profiles were found to have no effects on the association between social media use and psychological distress, but the validity analysis of the profiles contributes to the person-centered literature. Overall, the results on extraversion and preliminary results on other traits suggest that personality is a factor that should be taken in account when investigating social media’s effects on the psychological wellbeing of youth.