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“Sharing is caring” : a quantitative study on how highly visual social media use can influence emerging adults’ mental health attitudes and help-seeking behaviour in the Netherlands

Boros, S. (2022) “Sharing is caring” : a quantitative study on how highly visual social media use can influence emerging adults’ mental health attitudes and help-seeking behaviour in the Netherlands.

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Abstract:Social media has become a crucial part of the lives of billions of people all over the world recently. It is especially true for the young, emerging adults who are between the ages of 18-29. Highly visual social media sites such as Instagram and TikTok are some of the most popular applications these days which offer numerous opportunities for young adults to compare themselves to others. Previous research shows that social comparison can have both negative and positive effects on emerging adults' mental health, their general attitudes toward mental health and their help-seeking tendencies. The current study is focused on opinion-based social comparison on highly visual social media sites Instagram and TikTok regarding young, emerging adults’ mental health attitudes and help-seeking behaviour with moderations such as feelings of inspiration and time spent on the social media sites. The study was done by using an online questionnaire conducted with 156 young, emerging adults. They were asked questions about their social media use habits, whether they compare opinions online and questions regarding their general mental health attitude and help-seeking tendencies. The results of the study show non-significant effects in relation to opinion-based social comparison on HVSM sites and the mental health attitudes or help-seeking behaviour of young, emerging adults. Although, there were significant results found between opinion-based social comparison online and feelings of inspiration. There were no significant differences between males and females or the time they spent on highly visual social media. These findings conclude that opinion-based social comparison online can also influence positively, but are not yet able to directly connect it to mental health attitudes or help-seeking behaviour. The current insights can help in the further investigation of the positive effects of Instagram and TikTok and how to make sure these platforms enhance rather than diminish young, emerging adults’ mental health.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies, 77 psychology
Programme:Communication Studies BSc (56615)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/91346
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