The Impact Of Social Media Usage On Mental Health Of Youngsters In Pakistan: Mediation Of Depression And Moderating Role Of Parental Attachment

Abstract

Social media usage is the most likely going on activity of current generation. Such sites are directing towards entertainment and communication sources that is growing in recent years. So, to overcome this problem, parents must play a significant role in the lives of their children and to keep their check while using such social media sites more frequently. The area of current research was some universities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi & also some online excessive social media users. The target population was both female and male belonging to age group 15-25 who reported to be using SNS excessively through research tool questionnaires. 400 questionnaires were distributed manual and online. By hand we got 70 responses while through online we got 161 responses back so overall response rate was 58%. In order to effectively handle this issue of current century, causal based observational study has been conducted to explore this relationship between variables as social media usage and mental health of youngsters with the mediation of depression and moderation of parental care. For data collection, convenient sampling method was used under deductive research approach. Linear regression models by SPSS software were used to assess if social media use predicted depression or if depression predicted social media use. After successful implementation of SPSS software it was indicated that there exists positive relationship between social media use and ill mental health among youngsters with positive mediation of depression between them. Parental support is acting as a significantly moderator in the relationship between depression and mental health. The current study shows that excessive social media usage by youngsters is actually causing depression among them that eventually affects their mental health. This group of youngsters is easily distracted by captivating social media sites and its continuous usage affects their mind badly while if their parents focus more on their children, then their mental health could be stabilized.