Loneliness is negatively related to Facebook network size, but not related to Facebook network structure

Brown, Riana M., Roberts, Sam G. B. and Pollet, Thomas (2021) Loneliness is negatively related to Facebook network size, but not related to Facebook network structure. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 15 (2). p. 6. ISSN 1802-7962

[img]
Preview
Text
14419-30750-3-PB.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0.

Download (395kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2021-2-6

Abstract

High levels of loneliness are associated with poorer outcomes for physical and mental health and a large body of research has examined how using social media sites such as Facebook is associated with loneliness. Time spent on Facebook tends to be associated with higher levels of loneliness, whereas a larger number of Facebook Friends and more active use of Facebook tends to be associated with lower levels of loneliness. However, whilst the network size and structure of ‘offline’ networks have been associated with loneliness, how the network structure on Facebook is associated with loneliness is still unclear. In this study, participants used the Getnet app to directly extract information on network size (number of Facebook Friends), density, number of clusters in the network, and average path length from their Facebook networks, and completed the 20-item UCLA Loneliness questionnaire. In total, 107 participants (36 men, 71 women, Mage = 20.6, SDage = 2.7) took part in the study. Participants with a larger network size reported significantly lower feelings of loneliness. In contrast, network density, number of clusters, and average path length were not significantly related to loneliness. These results suggest that whilst having a larger Facebook network is related to feelings of social connection to others, the structure of the Facebook network may be a less important determinant of loneliness than other factors such as active or passive use of Facebook and individual characteristics of Facebook users.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Social network structure, Facebook, loneliness, social network size, social network
Subjects: C800 Psychology
P900 Others in Mass Communications and Documentation
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User: John Coen
Date Deposited: 04 Jun 2021 12:55
Last Modified: 31 Jul 2021 11:06
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/46348

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics