International Journal of Information Management 48 (2019) 53–62

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International Journal of Information Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijinfomgt

Facebook usage and mental health: An empirical study of role of non- T

directional social comparisons in the UK
Tahir M. Nisara, Guru Prabhakarb, , P. Vigneswara Ilavarasanc, Abdullah M. Baabdullahd
⁎

a
Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
b
Faculty of Business & Law, UWE, Bristol, BS16 1QY, UK
c
Dept. of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India
d
Department of Management Information Systems, Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The present paper explores the relationship between nature of Facebook usage, non-directional comparisons and
Non-directional social comparison depressive syndromes. The extant research on linkage between social media usage and mental health is in-
Facebook usage conclusive. The paper uses data collected through an online survey of 399 Facebook users in the UK. A Facebook
Depressive symptoms frequency rating scale was developed and validated as a part of the study. The Iowa-Netherlands Comparison
Mental health
Orientation Measure was modified and used to measure social comparison. The depressive syndromes were
Social media platforms
captured by the modified Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The Rank Theory of Depression
was used a guiding framework. The data collection had focused on the 20–29 year olds, as justified by the
literature.
The study found a negative relationship between active Facebook use and non-directional social comparisons.
The relationship was reversed in the case of passive usage. There is small but significant causal linkage between
increased non-directional social comparisons and depressive symptoms among the users.

1. Introduction number of studies (refer for a detailed review, Kapoor et al., 2018;
Shiau, Dwivedi, & Lai, 2018) that are examining the role played by the
In 1954 the German philosopher Martin Heidegger said, “every- social media platforms in businesses, especially in marketing (Alalwan,
where we remain un-free and chained to technology” (Heidegger & Rana, Dwivedi, & Algharabat, 2017; Dwivedi, Kapoor, & Chen, 2015),
Lovitt, 1977). Amazingly although he spoke over 60 years ago and and society.
technology has advanced dramatically since, this statement is perhaps One social media site that has outlasted many others to become the
even more pertinent to today’s society. There has been a huge upsurge second most visited website worldwide is, Facebook (Conrad, 2012);
in portable devices which has meant that many users have become only being surpassed by Google in the number one slot. 68% of the US
“chained” to their technology, feeling the need to constantly check it for adults are Facebook users (Pew Internet Center, 2018). No wonder,
updates. These portable devices have also adapted the way we com- Facebook has been much studied platform among the others (for a re-
municate with one another, facilitated by the new channels like social view please see, Shiau et al., 2018).
media platforms. In fact, the rise in these new communication platforms Facebook is a Web 2.0 based platform that allows users to create
has greatly impacted the quantum of offline interactions, so much so their own profiles, on which they can post photos, videos and status
that 57% of people now converse more with their friends online than updates whilst also being able to view and comment on other users’
they do in real life (Conrad, 2012). On an average, adult population in uploads. Over 30 billion pieces of content are shared on the site each
the developed world spent half of their every day on some form of month; it has therefore created the largest database for social in-
media including the social media platforms (Nielsen, 2018). Businesses formation (Krasnova et al., 2013; Statista, 2017). Users tend to re-
all over the world are actively engaging with the customers through peatedly check on the status of their and others updates. It is said that
various social media platforms (Kapoor et al., 2018; Rathore, Kar, & an average 20–29 year old spends at least two hours a day on Facebook
Ilavarasan, 2017). The research domain is witnessing increasing (Conrad, 2012; Hogenboom, 2018). Facebook provides several numeric

Corresponding author.
⁎

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (T.M. Nisar), [email protected] (G. Prabhakar), [email protected] (P.V. Ilavarasan),
[email protected] (A.M. Baabdullah).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.01.017
Received 7 September 2018; Received in revised form 13 December 2018; Accepted 17 January 2019
0268-4012/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T.M. Nisar et al. International Journal of Information Management 48 (2019) 53–62

popularity measures. Users are able to like, comment or share any other useful in determining consumer behaviour (for instance, Nisar,
users content, these posts are then displayed in a “News Feed” for all of Prabhakar, & Patil, 2018).
the user’s friends to see. This co-creation and constant engagement with The depression is not just a health issue, but has wider implications.
the content have made Facebook and other similar social networking It is thought to be the reason behind one fifth of all work absenteeism in
sites as indispensable part of business strategies. The main themes in the world. It is also estimated that for every $1 invested in treatment for
the user generated content in the platforms can be influenced by the depression, the economic return is $4 (Roberts, 2017). The relationship
marketing firms (Aswani, Kar, Ilavarasan, & Dwivedi, 2018). The origin between social media platforms and mental health has already attracted
of the advertisement content seen in social media platforms – associate a multitude of research (Grover, Kar, & Davies, 2018). There are at-
reference group, aspirational reference group and marketer have dif- tempts, as detailed in the following sections, to examine the links be-
ferential impact on the consumer perceptions of the advertising value tween social comparison and depression. The present study aims to
(Akhter, Mukerji, Dwivedi, Rana, & Islam, 2017). When users partici- unravel the linkage between the nature of Facebook usage, social
pate in the platform communities, their participation motivations po- comparisons and mental health.
sitively influence customer participation, which in turn significantly The paper is divided into six sections. The first section introduced
affects brand trust and brand loyalty (Kamboj, Sarmah, Gupta, & the objective of the study and the context. The second section provides
Dwivedi, 2018). a literature survey on the concepts used in the paper. It also presents the
The News Feed also allows users to easily compare how many likes Rank Theory of Depression. The third section shares the methodology
or comments their content received to that of their friends. Facebook used by the study. The fourth section discusses the study’s empirical
also has an instant messenger service, this function allows users to see findings. The fifth section discusses the findings in the light of the lit-
when their friends were last on the site, but this can lead to them erature and implications. The final section concludes the paper with
speculating if they were ignoring their updates or messages (Blease, suggestions for the future research.
2015). This kind of content has given a greater insight into one’s
“friends” lives than ever before and has therefore also provided the 2. Literature review
stimulus to compare own lives to those around. This comparison has
been long speculated to have negative implications on the mental 2.1. Social comparison and the rank theory of depression
health (for instance, Hogenboom, 2018). For example, a person may log
onto Facebook and experience envy (Tandoc, Ferrucci, & Duffy, 2015) The National Institute of Mental Health (NHS) describes depression
after looking friends’ posted photos of an exotic holiday, or a single as common but a serious mood disorder prevailing in the world. The
person may feel lonely after viewing other users’ engagement or wed- mental depression affects how one feels, thinks, and handles daily ac-
ding status updates. tivities (NHS, 2016). The extreme conditions will result in people
Comparing to those around or “social comparison”, as it is more committing suicide or injuring others. There are many different theories
commonly known, is not a new phenomenon, in fact it was first pro- that can explain the causes of depression, including genetic reasons. For
posed by Leon Festinger over 60 years ago. Although comparing our- example, Lakdawalla, Hankin, and Mermelstein (2007) discusses three
selves to those around is part of establishing social norms and evalu- theories of depression: Beck’s theory, Hopelessness theory, and the
ating individual’s standing in the society, it is also detrimental to the Response Styles theory. According to Beck's theory some people would
mental health of human beings. The impact on mental health could have continuous negative thoughts about self, world and the future.
happen in two ways. In upward social comparison, the user compares These negative thoughts leads to developing negative self-schema
herself to the people whom she believed to be socially superior. The which results in logical errors in thinking. The undesirable outcomes
downward social comparison happens with the people who perceived out of logical errors contribute to the negative thoughts. This results in
to be socially inferior. The extant research indicates that the frequency depression state for those individuals. Seligman explained depression in
of social comparisons rather than the direction has the highest impact terms of learned helplessness wherein individuals perceive that at-
on the mental wellbeing (White, Langer, Yariv, & Welch, 2006). The tempts to escape negative situations do not make any difference. These
present paper focuses on the relationship between non-directional so- perceptions develop due to contextual environment or attributional
cial comparisons and depressive symptoms, as opposed to a specific style (Liu, Kleiman, Nestor, & Cheek, 2015). Response styles theory is
direction. about ruminating about the symptoms of depression and possible con-
There has been a substantial rise in the depression related illnesses sequences which aggravates the depression conditions. A detailed dis-
worldwide (Dhir, Yossatorn, Kaur, & Chen, 2018). According to the cussion of these theories is beyond the scope of the paper. The paper
World Health Organisation (WHO) depression is now the biggest global narrows down to a theory that involves social comparison and de-
health problem, following an 18% overall growth in diagnosis in the pression, so that role of social media usage can be examined.
last 10 years (Roberts, 2017). There has also been a dramatic increase For the purpose of this research, the Rank Theory of Depression is
in the number of depression related deaths. In the UK alone, deaths chosen. The Rank Theory of Depression describes how the loss of rank
attributed to mental health issues have risen by 50% in the last three and or the loss of confidence in regaining one’s prior rank, can lead to
years (Forster, 2017). This increase has been most notable amongst the an increased vulnerability to developing depression among people
20–29 years age category (Jelenchick, Eickhoff, & Moreno, 2013). Ac- (Sloman, 2003). In order to assess the rank one must compare ourselves
cording to the latest survey results, British millennial’s have the second to those around. Both the nature and the impact of the comparisons
worst mental well- being in the world only behind the Japanese (Pells, could lead to lifestyle change, job loss or a relationship breakdown.
2017). This age group, 20–29 years, is of greater importance to be
studied. Among various possible reasons, addiction to social media 2.2. Social comparison online and offline
could be one of the factors impacting their mental stability. The in-
crease in use of social media is strongly coinciding with the increase in Individuals compare themselves to those around deliberately or
mental health issues (especially amongst the millennial generation). inadvertently. These comparisons results in developing the self-aware-
The recent Blue Whale game played in the social media platforms led ness (Suls, Martin, & Wheeler, 2002). Leon Festinger’s theory stated
many young people to commit suicide (Scott, 2018), clearly indicating that in the absence of an objective measure, individuals routinely
the intensity of influence. A study (Kramer, Guillory, & Hancock, 2014) compare themselves to others in order to help evaluate their own lives
sponsored by the Facebook showed that emotion contagion can happen (Steers, Wickham, & Acitelli, 2014). People are most likely to compare
without direct interaction with people through electronic platforms. to those whom they deem similar and join online communities
There are adequate research that demonstrate that social media can be (Festinger, 1954; Hajli, 2014). The similarity is based on several factors

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including, but not limited to: height, age, weight, upbringing, education depressive symptoms (Krasnova et al., 2013). Addition of social media
level or income. platforms to the offline world would accentuate the processes.
Social comparison can be used to estimate one’s past and present Users only posting positive aspects of their lives online, means
social standings as well as predicting the future prospects (Suls et al., people’s views Facebook friends might be distorted, resulting in un-
2002). Social comparisons can be broken into major categories. Upward reasonable negative comparisons with their own lives (Steers et al.,
social comparison is when people compare themselves to those believed 2014). This is further intensified while comparing with those who are
to be superior in some way, and downward social comparison involves befriended exclusively online and have only their online profiles for
comparing to someone who is believed to be inferior. For people, the comparison. Simply using Facebook is not the only way the website has
main focus of all social comparisons is to evaluate themselves. If an been found to increase cognitive and emotional responses amongst its’
objective measure is unavailable, these comparisons can be detrimental users. According to Bevan, Pfyl, and Barclay (2012), “unfriending” on
to the mental health (White et al., 2006). Festinger’s original theory and Facebook can be also viewed as a form of “relationship termination”.
subsequent research imply that downward social comparison could lead Similarly, Kuyken, Brewin, Power, and Furnham (1992) found that
to an increase in positive emotions, whereas upward social comparison unfriending is one of the factors known to trigger depressive symptoms.
could cause an upsurge in negative emotions (Wheeler & Miyake, They found that being “unfriended” lead to an increase in both rumi-
1992). This is supported by Will’s “Downward Comparison Theory” nation and negative emotions, both of which are viewed as symptoms of
which discusses how the use of strategic downward comparison can be depression (Bevan et al., 2012).
beneficial to the individuals. The encouragement of strategic downward In terms of the Rank Theory of Depression, Facebook provides
comparisons is often used by clinicians and doctors as a therapy tool for several different ways in which users may feel that their rank has been
patients (Suls et al., 2002). However, downward social comparison has compromised. For example, they may feel that their rank has lowered if
also been known to lead to increased rumination, which can be asso- they messaged a friend and they did not respond, or if they posted a
ciated with a rise in depressive symptoms (Feinstein et al., 2013). photo that did not receive as many likes as a photo they previously
The extant research (White et al., 2006) also indicate that frequency posted. However, there are studies that show that Facebook could be
of social comparison has the greatest impact on the person’s emotions actually be beneficial. Facebook groups allow individuals those with
rather than the direction in which they compare (White et al., 2006). low self-esteem to find people with similar interests and make social
Although the older research on social comparison are in the context of connections (Ellison, Steinfeld, & Lampe, 2007; Kim & Lee, 2011). The
face-to-face interactions, social media has now created an online plat- groups might be beneficial to those who are making a lifestyle change
form in which these social comparisons can occur. It is shown that and suffer social anxiety (Zuo, 2014). Interestingly, the positive effects
motivations, goals and interests of people remain consistent regardless of social media are more likely to be felt by older people than their
of the status, online or offline (Mckenna & Bargh, 2000). Thus, it can be younger counterparts in the context of an university (Jung, Pawlowski,
assumed that people would compare themselves to others in Facebook & Kim, 2017; Kalpidou, Costin, & Morris, 2011). Some studies have
similar to offline human interactions (Gross & Acquisti, 2005; Steers concluded that the relationship between Facebook use and depressive
et al., 2014). symptoms is curvilinear (Daniels, 2014) – for different levels of Face-
book use, the depressive symptoms may differ in directions (Daniels,
2.3. Facebook and depression 2014). This may be a reflection of the different kinds of user interac-
tions possible on the Facebook. For example, if users are actively using
There are attempts to explore the relationship between Facebook Facebook to keep in contact with friends they could have lower de-
use and increase in depressive symptoms. A thorough literature review pressive symptoms, than someone who uses Facebook to simply view
of Facebook (Shiau et al., 2018) found social impact is one of the top other’s profiles.
areas studied by the earlier researchers. A study (Zuo, 2014) concluded Though there are adequate claims about causal linkage between
that those who spent longer on the site often felt like their Facebook Facebook and other social media platforms, the field is not without
friends were happier than they were. Chou and Edge (2012) found naysayers. For instance, using an empirical study, Jelenchick et al.
positive correlations between the amount of time spent on Facebook (2013) refuted all claims that linked social networking sites usage and
and the likelihood they were to perceive their life as unfair. In order to clinical depression. Systematic reviews, reviews based on a rigorous
gain a greater understanding into why Facebook use may be detri- and replicable review methodology, do not clearly conclude that Fa-
mental to mental health, it is important to look at the primary reasons cebook usage leads to depression. Seabrook, Kern, and Rickard (2016)
behind Facebook use. Nadkarni and Hofmann (2012) proposed the two reported mixed findings can had called for a non self-reported studies. A
main reasons for Facebook use were “the need to belong” and “the need narrative systematic review by Frost and Rickwood (2017) found that
for self-presentation.” There is overall positive bias in representing one Facebook use could be associated with addiction, anxiety, depression
online. Panger (2015) had concluded that the primary aspiration for body image and alcohol use. However, the causality of the relationship
users to use Facebook is to present themselves in a positive light to the was yet to be ascertained. In fact, the authors suggested quantitative
external world. The users also experience Facebook envy (Tandoc et al., meta-analysis to find and conclude about the quantity and nature of
2015) when their social attractiveness is perceived to be lower than relationship. In an email for a magazine (Lorman, 2017), the authors
others and feel subordinated. This envy seems to be prominent among had highlighted the intensity of usage, which the present papers at-
the college students. Users only portraying their lives online as positive tempts to explore. To quote:
have been contributing to loneliness of people those going through
“For example, does passive use of Facebook (e.g., browsing Facebook
internal struggles (Jordan et al., 2011). The viewing of these positively
friend’s profiles) explain why some individuals feel depressed after using
skewed Facebook profiles triggers feelings of envy, which is turn has
Facebook compared to those who engage in active use (e.g., posting a
been found to have a negative impact on users’ life satisfaction
message on their timeline)?”
(Krasnova et al., 2013). The Facebook users have been found to be most
envious of other users’ happiness, friends’ holidays and their social lives
(Krasnova et al., 2013). In the light of above, we could infer that these 2.4. The different types of Facebook use
feelings of envy stemmed from the social comparisons. Even in the
offline environment, studies have concluded that people tend to focus Facebook use can be broken down into two categories: “Active” and
solely on the positive aspects of a person’s life, and will consequently “Passive” (Frison & Eggermont, 2015). Active Facebook use involves
underestimate any negative aspects (Mehdizadeh, 2010). This could constant interactions between the users and their friends in the plat-
lead to increased feelings of envy and jealousy which are triggers of forms, such as posting a status or using Facebook messenger. Passive

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Facebook use means when users are viewing the content but not in- 3. Methodology
teracting with others (Frison & Eggermont, 2015). Earlier research has
shown that the frequency of active Facebook use tends to decrease as 3.1. Sample selection and participants
age increases, whereas passive use increases to a certain extent with
age. Millennials subsequently appear to use Facebook for more passive There are currently 10.7 million (5.3 million females and 5.4 mil-
than teenagers who are more active (Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, lion males) UK Facebook users in the age category of 20–29 years
2009; Tobin, Vanman, Verreynne, & Saeri, 2014; Verduyn et al., 2015). (Statista, 2017), making this the highest number of Facebook users per
The reasons behind passive vs. active use of social networking sites age demographic for the UK. It is also the age range that has seen the
have also been explored. When asked why they did not actively use highest increase in depression diagnoses (Jelenchick et al., 2013).
social media, two main reasons emerged – lack of comfort in posting Hence, this category is chosen as target population for the study. It will
own content and no perception of need (Preece, Nonnecke, & Andrews, only be possible to generalize the results of this study to this specific
2004). demographic “UK Facebook users aged 20–29”, not all Facebook users.
Not all results from the existing research are pointing towards same Nevertheless, the questionnaire could be easily replicated and applied
direction. Some research shows that passive Facebook use could have to a different culture or age group. The minimum sample size needed in
the same benefits as the social comparison. Social comparison has been order to generalize the results to all British Facebook users aged 20–29
also known to establish positive cognitive effects on its users, as it can is calculated as follows:
help to reduce ambiguity and provide social norms in which we can
Required sample size: [Z2 (p) * (1-p)]/C2
measure ourselves against (Krasnova et al., 2013). In summation, active
Facebook use provides a connection (e.g. conversing with other users) Z = 1.96 for 95% confidence level; p = 0.5; c = confidence interval
which seems to improve wellbeing (Chiu, Cheng, Huang, & Chen, (0.1 = ± 10)
2013). This is consistent with social compensation theory which states According to equation, the minimum number of respondents re-
that those with higher social anxiety may use the internet as a way to quired is 96. The study collected data from 399 people. A larger sample
interact with peers and therefore lower their feelings of loneliness reduces the sampling error and enhances generalizability of the study
(Daniels, 2014). Also, disconnecting or passive activities online such as (Field, 2013).
viewing other’s profiles, might lead to increased social comparisons and A questionnaire was constructed to measure Facebook use, social
subsequent negative consequences for the user (Krasnova et al., 2013). comparison and depression syndromes. A pilot study with 10 partici-
Strong links have been found between increased passive social media pants were conducted to test the questionnaire. Some language mod-
consumption and an increase in emotions such as “irritability” and ifications were made to increase the readability of the questionnaire.
“annoyance” (Krasnova et al., 2013) as well as increased feelings of
isolation (Burke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010). 3.2. Measuring Facebook use
Though there are prior research on social media platforms, focus on
Facebook and varying levels of usage and their linkage with the social To measure the type of Facebook use, we have developed a
comparison are limited. Also, we do not know how these social com- Facebook frequency rating scale (Appendix A). The scale asked the
parisons could lead to an increase in depressive symptoms. The present respondents how often they conducted various passive and active
study attempts to fill the gap. Facebook activities. Rather than using vague time-measures such as
In the light of above analysis, the study delineated the following “very frequently” and “occasionally” that could be interpreted differ-
hypotheses (presented schematically in Fig. 1): ently by different participants, exact time measures such as “once a
Hypothesis 1. Increased active Facebook use will decrease non- day” and “once a week” were used, to increase the criterion validity of
directional social comparisons. the scale.

Hypothesis 2. Increased passive Facebook use will increase non-

3.3. Measuring social comparison
directional social comparisons.
Hypothesis 3. Increased non-directional social comparisons will We have adapted Steers et al.’s Iowa-Netherlands Comparison
increase depressive symptoms. Orientation Measure (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) to measure social
comparison on Facebook. The original statement, “I often feel like my
friends are happier than me” was changed to “I often feel like my Fa-
cebook friends are happier than me” (Appendix A). The respondents
were asked to refer only last month while answering. Using “the last

Fig. 1. Linkage between Facebook use, social comparisons and depressive symptoms.

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T.M. Nisar et al. International Journal of Information Management 48 (2019) 53–62

month” as the set time period allowed us to estimate the users’ average Table 1
comparison score better. Exploratory factor analysis of items of Facebook use, Social comparison and
Depressive.
3.4. Measuring depressive symptoms 1 2 3 4 5

In order to accurately measure the participant’s depressive symp- CESD_7 .908

CESD_8 .895
toms, we had used the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression
CESD_13 .873
Scale (CES-D), (Appendix A). It one of the most prevalent assessment CESD_5 .870
tools that had been deemed accurate in measuring depression by the CESD_9 .867
general medical population (Van Dam & Earleywine, 2011). The CES-D CESD_1 .849
CESD_2 .843
scale covers nine main topics: sadness, loss of interest, appetite, sleep,
CESD_12 .838
concentration, worthlessness, fatigue, agitation and suicidal intention CESD_11 .829
(CES-Dr.com, 2017). For the depression symptoms, the respondents CESD_3 .820
were prompted by a statement for which answers pertaining to last two CESD_16 .811
weeks needed to be referred. This is the same time recommended by the CESD_6 .805
CESD_10 .803
NHS and has lowered the creation error (NHS, 2016). The Iowa-Neth-
CESD_4 .800
erlands Comparison Orientation Measure (COM) used a 5-point Likert CESD_14 .792
scale whereas the CES-D and Facebook used a frequency rating scale. CESD_15 .785
The CES-D scale contains several sensitive questions about self-harm CESD_17 .775
CESD_18 .685
and or suicide which were removed to avoid any potential discomfort to
COM_9 .867
the respondents. The questionnaire was distributed by selecting an in- COM_8 .858
itial group of people which are known to fit the criteria, age 20–29 UK COM_10 .802
Facebook users, and then asked them to distribute it by “sharing it” on COM_11 .750
their Facebook pages. COM_7 .725
COM_4 .646
To conduct analysis on the Likert scale questions, each response was
COM_5 .520
given a numerical value (Appendix A) between -1 (strongly disagree) COM_13 .516 −.433
and 5 (strongly agree). These scores were added for each participant to COM_6 .487
get a “total social comparison score”. According to NHS, the CES-D COM_12 .453 −.331
scale questions should be rated between 0 and 5 (Van Dam & APU_3 .894
APU_4 .888
Earleywine, 2011). The Facebook usage questions were categorized into APU_2 .820
two – active and passive. Each participant was given a score for the APA_6 .710
amount of “active” time they had spent on Facebook, as well as the APA_7 .567 .380
amount of “passive” time they had spent on the site. Each response will APA_5 .324
P_10 .783
be given a numerical value between 0 and 6. All questions used a sin-
P_9 .746
gular direction e.g. “I often feel worse about myself after using Face- P_8 .640
book” and “Looking at my friend’s Facebook profile’s lowers my self- FB_Login .500
esteem”. Therefore the higher the participants total scores in any of the P_11 .468
categories the more they had partaken in any of the classifications ac- COM_1 −.826
COM_2 −.781
tivities (active Facebook use, passive Facebook use, social comparisons COM_3 −.754
or depressive symptoms). To test Hypothesis 1 and 2, we had conducted
multiple regression test to understand how the two-predictor variables Notes: Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis; Rotation Method:
(active and passive Facebook use) could predict the outcome variable Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization; Rotation converged in 7 iterations.
(social comparisons). To test Hypothesis 3, a linear regression was
employed to determine how much a person’s depressive symptoms which could be categorized as questions regarding depressive symp-
could be predicted by their social comparison scores. toms. 10 items had loaded onto the 2nd Factor that were all about social
The study did not undertake structural equation mode analysis or comparisons. 6 items had loaded onto the 3rd factor, that were related
mediation analysis by treating social comparisons as mediator between to the active Facebook use. The final factor was of 5 items that were
Facebook usage and depression symptoms. Fiedler, Schott and Meiser about the passive Facebook use. Three items did not load and were
(2011) cautioned treating a variable Z as a mediator in a causal re- removed - when I am on Facebook I often compare myself with others
lationship between A and B is one of the four ways to interpret the same with respect to what I have accomplished in life; when on Facebook I
inter-correlations. In other words, there could be other mediators in felt less confident about what I have achieved compared to other
explaining the relationships and other ways interrelationships are pre- people; and When on Facebook I paid a lot of attention to how I do
sent. Nevertheless, this can be treated as a limitation of the study. things compared to how others to do things (Appendix A).
To further test the internal reliability, Cronbach’s alpha was calcu-
4. Results lated. All Cronbach’s alpha scores were above 0.7, therefore internal
reliability of the factors were high and acceptable (Field, 2013). The
The online questionnaire remained active for only two weeks and score for Depressive Symptoms was 0.974 and 0.897 for the Social
had received a total of 502 participants. However only 399 participants comparisons.
fitted the age and Facebook account requirements. The 103 participants
that did not fit the requirements were therefore removed from the da- 4.1. The relationship between Facebook usage and social comparisons
taset. The participants’ age ranged between 20–29 years, with the mean
age group being 22.7 years. The majority of participants were aged The earlier research (Chou & Edge, 2012) had found positive cor-
20–22 years. relation between the time spent on Facebook and its links with social
An exploratory factor analysis with direct oblimin rotation was comparison. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated to see
performed, to test the internal reliability of the data set. The analysis whether present study produced the same results. The analysis
revealed 4 factors (Table 1). 18 items had loaded onto the 1st Factor, (Table 2) found a small positive correlation between the number of

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Table 2 The unstandardized coefficients (B values) showed that for one in-
Pearson Correlations (Facebook use, social comparisons, Active and passive crease in quantity of passive Facebook use by 1 unit, the amount of non-
Facebook use). directional social comparisons would increase by 0.789 (Table 3).
FB_Login SC_TOT AC PA Whereas, for one increase in quantity of active Facebook use by 1 unit,
the amount of non-directional social comparison would decrease by -
FB_Login 1 .036 .014 .017 4.16. As social comparisons and Facebook use were measured on dif-
SC .036 1 −.353 .236
ferent scales, standard deviations could be used to compare the beta
AC .011 −.353 1 −.082
PA .016 .236 −.082 1 values. If active Facebook use were to increase by one standard de-
viation, the non-directional social comparison score would decrease by
Note: FB_Login – Number of times users logged into Facebook; SC – Social −0.331 standard deviations. The passive Facebook use were to increase
Comparisons; AC – Active use of Facebook; PA – Passive use of Facebook. by one standard deviation then the non-directional social comparison
score would increase by 0.209 standard deviations. The results were
times a user logged into the website and the amount of non-directional significant, as the p values were under 0.05 (0.028 for active and 0.01
social comparisons that they had made (r = 0.36). However, the results for passive). The t-test associated with beta values showed if the pre-
were not significant at p > 0.05. In other words, the present study did dictor was making a significant contribution to the model. The smaller
not find any association between the time spent and social comparisons. the p value, the larger the value of t the greater contribution to the
As per the Hypothesis 1, with active Facebook social comparisons model. The t-test results indicated that active Facebook usage made a
would decrease. The Hypothesis 2 stated that as passive Facebook use significant contribution in predicting the social comparisons (t (96) =
increased the non-directional social comparisons. A multiple regression − 3.59, p < 0.05). The t-test for passive Facebook use, indicated that
analysis was completed to assess if the type of Facebook use forecasted passive Facebook also made a substantial contribution in predicting
how much a participant compared themselves with their Facebook social comparison (t (96) = 0.209, p < 0.05). The significance values
friends. for these results were all below 0.05 indicating the validity of the re-
The Social comparison scores had ranged between -20 and 20, with sults.
a mean score was 6.13. However it had a high standard deviation
of ± 9.85. The participant’s active Facebook scores were between 3 and 4.2. Non-directional social comparisons and depressive symptoms
40, with a mean score of 18.68 and a standard deviation of ± 7.94. The
passive Facebook scores had ranged from 11 to 24 with a mean of 22.12 According to the Hypothesis 3, non-directional social comparisons
with a relatively low standard deviation of ± 2.61. predicted the depressive symptoms. A linear regression analysis was
The multiple Pearsons’ correlation coefficients (Table 1) were cal- conducted to assess whether participant’s depressive symptoms score
culated to find the association between the variables. Hypothesis 1 was could be predicted from the amount they compare themselves to others.
supported, as negative correlation was found (r=-0.353) between ac- The F ratio value 12.09 at p < 0.05 did not support the null hy-
tive Facebook use and social comparisons. The hypothesis 2 was also pothesis, “There is no relationship between non-directional social
supported, as there was there was a positive correlation (r = 0.236) comparison and depressive symptoms.” The association between the
between passive Facebook use (PA) and social comparisons. The one- variables was weak (r = 0.333) (Table 3). The regression model
tailed significance of each correlation is below 0.05 and therefore the (Table 4) was significant, but had low predictive power (r2 = 0.111,
association is therefore significant (Field, 2013). p < 0.05). In other words, non-directional social comparison scores
The association between active and passive uses of Facebook was could predict only 11.1% of the variation in depressive symptoms
negative (r= -0.82). This inferred that the variables were therefore scores. For one unit increase of non-directional social comparison
measuring two separate things, making them independent of each scores, the depression scores would rise by 0.146. The t-test shown in
other. The F test was highly significant, indicating the linearity of the Table 3 (T(97) = 3.477, p > 0.05), showed that non-directional social
model (F(2, 96) = 9.679, p < 0.005). We therefore reject the two null comparison scores could make a significant impact on the depressive
hypotheses: “There is no relationship between active Facebook use and symptoms.
non-directional social comparisons” and “There is no relationship be-
tween passive Facebook use and non-directional social comparisons.” 5. Discussion
The regression output (Table 3) showed that the independent vari-
ables, Facebook usage types explained 16.8% of the dependent vari- The extant research on linkage between Facebook usage and mental
able, social comparisons. It had an adjusted R2 of 0.150, which was very health is inconclusive and do not differentiate between active and
close to the original R2 score (0.168), demonstrating the strength of the passive uses. The present study is able to demonstrate that active
model. The Durbin Watson score was used to demonstrate the in- Facebook leads to lower non-directional social comparisons. On the
dependence of observations in the data set, d = 1.789. As the value was other hand, passive Facebook usage leads to higher non –directional
between 1.5 < d < 2.5, it indicated that there was no auto-correla- social comparisons. The non-directional social comparisons lead to
tion in the data set. depressive symptoms.
The present research differentiated the nature of Facebook usage
Table 3
Results of regression analysis predicting social comparison by active and pas- Table 4
sive uses of Facebook. Results of regression analysis predicting Depressive symptoms by social com-
parison.
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
Constant −3.543 8.322 −.426 .671
AC −.416 .116 −.336 −3.593 .001 Constant 1.846 1.114 1.657 .101
PA .789 .353 .209 2.235 .028 SC .146 .042 .333 3.477 .001
R .410 R .333
R Square .168 R Square .111
Adjusted R Square .150 Adjusted R Square .102

Note: AC – Active use of Facebook; PA – Passive use of Facebook. Note: SC – Social comparison.

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into active and passive categories. This differential is not present in the users are still using the Facebook to follow other’s worlds. An adver-
earlier research. For instance, Kramer et al. (2014) differentiated be- tisement liked or shared by an active user is still seen by the passive
tween negative and positive content in the feeds, not the nature of users and interpreted. The firms should think of ways by which passive
usage. Tandoc et al. (2015) found that heavy usage of Facebook had users can be targeted.
resulted in higher envy, subsequently depressive status among the The findings of the present study adds to the knowledge available to
college students. The present student clearly differentiated the nature of the medical practitioners. The linkage between level of usage, active or
usage and contradicted by showing that only passive usage lead to in- passive and their linkage to social comparison and depressive symp-
creased social comparison which in turn lead to depressive symptoms. toms can help in diagnosis and planning treatment strategies, especially
The age category taken for the study, 20–29 years is different from the to the 20–29 years age category who seem to prone to depression.
college students as well.
The present study validated the observations made by Daniels 7. Conclusion
(2014) that users who are actively using Facebook to keep in contact
with friends have lower depressive symptoms than someone who uses The results indicated that passive Facebook use increases non-di-
Facebook to simply view other’s profiles. By conducting causal analysis, rectional social comparisons whereas active Facebook use decreases the
the present study also refuted the claim bade by Jelenchick et al. (2013) non-directional social comparisons. This research established a small
that there was no linkage between Facebook usage and depression but significant positive relationship between social comparisons and
among the college students. depression symptoms. Given the limitations of time, money and per-
Earlier Krasnova et al. (2013) contended that social comparison sonnel, all academic research have inadequacies. They can be addressed
might help people by reducing ambiguity as the benchmarks are pro- by the future research. Some of them are discussed below.
vided by the networking sites. The present study deviates from this.
However the quantum of linkage, inferred by lower predictive power of 8. Limitations and future research directions
the regression model, infer that social comparison can have some po-
sitive benefits. The causes of depression are complex with no common or singular
trigger being uniformly recognized (NHS, 2016) and need to be studied
6. Implications further. This study had used only the Rank Theory of Depression
showing that social comparison is related to the depressive symptoms.
The present study is the first to differentiate the active and passive Further research could look at the other theoretical frameworks and
uses of Facebook clearly and their linkages with the social comparisons. related concepts or variables in predicting the depression.
By operationalizing the social comparisons, it contributed to the ex- Contrary to the prior research, the association between “number of
tension of social rank theory of depression to the study of social media Facebook logins” and “non-directional social comparisons” was insig-
platforms. By focusing exclusively on the age category of 20–29 years, it nificant. This may be due to the fact that number of times that the user
brought in additional insights on usage of Facebook and mental health logs into the site may not be a true reflection of how long they are
linkages. The earlier research tend to focus more on the university actually spending on the site. Many devices now allow users to remain
students. Earlier research highlights the passive usage of older users and logged into the site, so even if the user spends longer time on the
did not relate to the depressive symptoms. This research is able to de- website they might have actually only logged in once. Inconsistency in
monstrate the linkages using the empirical data and has contributed to measuring Facebook usage in prior studies limits the cross comparisons.
the area of post-adolescent health behaviour. The operationalization include “frequency of Facebook status updates”
The findings of the research have implications at three levels: in- (Ong et al., 2011) and “number of logins per day” (Junco, 2013). Future
dividuals, firms and medical practitioners. The individuals shall benefit research can attempt to develop and validate Facebook usage scales
from the finding that passive Facebook usage would lead to increase in which can be helpful to the future studies in this area.
social comparison which in turn results in depressive symptoms. The Our study required for its participants to report on their own de-
passive usage behaviour includes logging into the sites and monitoring pressive symptoms. Despite the anonymity of the survey, the answers
others’ profiles without any interaction. Over a period of time, this may suffer from the social desirability bias. It would be insightful to
might result in depression. Active Facebook usage will reduce the social conduct the same survey with people who have already been clinically
comparisons which prevents depression and also helps to handle, as diagnosed with depression. Some sensitive questions in CES-D scale
mentioned in the earlier research, to social anxiety. were removed in this study. Using trained medical professional as part
The business implications can be discussed from two players: plat- of the study will cover the wide range of depressive syndromes as well.
forms and other businesses. The social networking platforms can benefit The study did not consider demographic characteristics like gender,
from the finding by creating additional functions to help the users. The religion, marital status, education and other variables. It focused on a
Facebook can signal to the passive users that continuation of such be- specific age category and assumed the sample to be homogenous. A
haviour will eventually lead to depression or mental health issues. large scale study incorporating all possible variables in analysis might
Alternatively, it can help users with social anxiety by constantly en- bring in additional insights. The study also did not undertake mediation
couraging them to be an active users of the platform. The social media analysis which might be possible with a larger sample size and addi-
use by the businesses is extensive, especially in the functions of mar- tional factors. Such an analysis should be attempted by the future stu-
keting (Alalwan et al., 2017). The present study infers that the passive dies.

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Appendix A

A Facebook use scale

The following questions are regarding your use of various Facebook features. Please only answer with regards to the last month. The options are:
More than once a day, Once a day, 4–6 times a week, Once a week, Once every two weeks, Once a month, Never

Statements Option

Log into Facebook

Post a status update
Post photos
Post your own original content
Use Facebook Messenger
Share other user’s content
Comment on a friend’s post
Read your news feed
Read a friends status update
View a friends photo
Browse a friends timeline

B Social comparison questions

The following questions are regarding how much you compare yourself to others whilst using Facebook. The given options are: Strongly disagree,
Disagree, Neither agree nor disagree, Agree, Strongly agree

Statements Option

When I am on Facebook, I often compare myself with others with respect to what I accomplished in life
When on Facebook I felt less confident about what I have achieved compared to other people
When on Facebook I paid a lot of attention to how I do things compared to how others do things
I often consult others before posting on Facebook
I delete Facebook posts if they do not receive a certain number of likes or comments
I only post pictures on Facebook that paint me in a flattening light
Looking at my friend’s Facebook profile lowers my self-esteem
I often feel worse about myself after using Facebook
Facebook is often a reminder that I am not as happy as others
I felt pressure from Facebook to change my appearance

C. Depression Questions

The following questions are regarding any depression symptoms you may have felt. Please only answer with regards to the last two weeks. The
given options are: Not at all or less than one day; 1–2 days; 3–4 days; 5–7 days; Nearly every day for 2 weeks.

Statement Option

My appetite was poor

I could not shake off the “blues”
I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing
I felt sad
I felt depressed
My sleep was restless
I could not get going
Nothing made me happy
I felt like a bad person
I felt like I was moving slowly
I slept much more than usual
I lost interest in my usual activities
I did not like myself
I was tired all the time
I felt fidgety
I could not focus on important things
I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep
I lost weight without trying

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