Use of social network as a coping strategy for depression among young people during the COVID-19 lockdown: findings from the COMET collaborative study

Laura Orsolini; Umberto Volpe; Umberto Albert; Claudia Carmassi; Giuseppe Carrà; Francesca Cirulli; Bernardo Dell'Osso; Valeria Del Vecchio; Marco Di Nicola; Vincenzo Giallonardo; Mario Luciano; Giulia Menculini; Maria Giulia Nanni; Maurizio Pompili; Gabriele Sani; Gaia Sampogna; Alfonso Tortorella; Andrea Fiorillo

doi:10.1186/s12991-022-00419-w

Use of social network as a coping strategy for depression among young people during the COVID-19 lockdown: findings from the COMET collaborative study

Ann Gen Psychiatry. 2022 Nov 14;21(1):44. doi: 10.1186/s12991-022-00419-w.

Authors

Laura Orsolini¹, Umberto Volpe², Umberto Albert³, Claudia Carmassi⁴, Giuseppe Carrà⁵, Francesca Cirulli⁶, Bernardo Dell'Osso⁷, Valeria Del Vecchio⁸, Marco Di Nicola^{9

10}, Vincenzo Giallonardo⁸, Mario Luciano⁸, Giulia Menculini¹¹, Maria Giulia Nanni¹², Maurizio Pompili¹³, Gabriele Sani^{9

10}, Gaia Sampogna⁸, Alfonso Tortorella¹¹, Andrea Fiorillo⁸

Affiliations

¹ Clinical Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical Neurosciences/DIMSC, School of Medicine, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Tronto 10/A, 60126, Ancona, Italy.
² Clinical Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical Neurosciences/DIMSC, School of Medicine, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Tronto 10/A, 60126, Ancona, Italy. u.volpe@staff.univpm.it.
³ Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Department of Mental Health, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Giuliano Isontina-ASUGI, Trieste, Italy.
⁴ Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
⁵ Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
⁶ National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
⁷ Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Luigi Sacco, Aldo Ravelli Center for Neurotechnology and Brain Therapeutic, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy.
⁹ Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, University Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
¹⁰ Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
¹² Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
¹³ Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Background: Use of social media (SM) has exponentially grown particularly among youths in the past two years, due to COVID-19-related changing lifestyles. Based on the Italian COvid Mental hEalth Trial (COMET), we investigated the association between SM use and depressive symptoms among Italian young adults (aged 18-24).

Methods: The COMET is a nationwide multi-center cross-sectional study that investigated socio-demographic data, social networking addiction (BSNAS), depression, anxiety, and stress (DASS-21), as well as impulsiveness (BIS-15) and aggressiveness (AQ) in a large sample of youngsters, in order to assess the association between BSNAS and DASS-21 indices. Mediation analyses were performed to evaluate the role of impulsiveness and aggressive personality traits in the association between SM use (SMU) and depression.

Results: 75.8% of the sample (n = 491) had a problematic SMU. SMU was reduced by high AQ and high DASS-21 scores (F = 42.338, p < 0.001, R² = 0.207). Mediation analyses showed that SMU negatively predicted depressive symptomatology with the interaction mediated by AQ total (ß = - 0.1075), physical (ß = - 0.207) and anger (ß = - 0.0582), BIS-15 total (ß = - 0.0272) and attentional (ß = - 0.0302). High depressive levels were predicted by high AQ scores, low SMU levels, low verbal and physical AQ, and low attentional BIS-15 (F = 30.322, p < 0.001, R² = 0.273). Depressive symptomatology negatively predicted SMU with their interaction mediated by AQ total (ß = - 0.1640), verbal (ß = 0.0436) and anger (ß = - 0.0807), BIS-15 total (ß = - 0.0448) and attentional (ß = - 0.0409).

Conclusions: SMU during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic could have a beneficial role in buffering negative consequences linked to social isolation due to quarantine measures, despite this association being mediated by specific personality traits.

Keywords: Aggressiveness; COVID-19; Impulsiveness; Problematic social media use; Social networking.