An Irish experience of the effects of social isolation and social media use during COVID-19
Authors
Maguire, Conor
Issue Date
2021
Degree
BA Hons in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
The research study investigated the relationship between social isolation and social media use during COVID-19 on stress, anxiety, and coping-self efficacy using a quantitative mixed methods survey. A sample of 180 participants were accessed through snowball and convenience sampling and completed an online survey with measures comprising of The Friendship Scale (Hawthorne, 2006), Social Media Use Integration Scale (Jenkins-Guarnieri et al., 2013), The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21, Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), Coping-Self Efficacy Scale (Chesney et al., 2006), and Perceived Stress Scale 14 (Cohen et al., 1983). Analysis revealed social isolation and social media use was positively associated with anxiety and stress scores. There was a weak positive relationship between social isolation and social media use. There were also gender differences between social media use, stress, and anxiety. Future research was presented, and the implications of the current study were discussed.