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Publication
Social Media Use and Its Association with Mental Health and Internet Addiction among Portuguese Higher Education Students during COVID-19 Confinement
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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Abstract: The use of social media was one of the most common way to keep in touch with friends
and family during confinement. For higher education students, the fact that their universities were
closed was a major change in their lives. The aim of this study is to relate the prevalence and type of
social media with Internet addiction and mental health of university students in a district of Portugal
during COVID-19 confinement. Mental health was studied by applying the reduced version of the
Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) and to measure the Internet use and dependence, the Internet
Addiction Test (IAT) was used. The study (cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational) used an
online questionnaire, conducted on Google® Forms and the link was sent to 4450 students, in the
months of April to June 2020, during the confinement. A total of 329 valid questionnaires were
obtained. We can conclude that regarding mental health, students in the 18–24 age group, single or
divorced and who are not in a relationship, and with worse academic results, show worse levels of
mental health. It is noteworthy that the students with the same characteristics also have the highest
levels of addiction to internet.
Description
Keywords
Social media Internet addiction Mental health Higher education students Confinement
Citation
Oliveira AP, Nobre JR, Luis H, Luis LS, Pinho LG, Albacar-Riobóo N, Sequeira C. Social Media Use and Its Association with Mental Health and Internet Addiction among Portuguese Higher Education Students during COVID-19 Confinement. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(1):664. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010664
Publisher
MDPI