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Age, Loneliness, and Social Media Use in Adults during COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis
Loneliness has been linked to morbidity and mortality across the lifespan. Social media could reduce loneliness, though research on the relation between social media and loneliness has been inconclusive. This study used person-centered analyses to elucidate the inconsistencies in the literature and...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10252391/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37297573 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20115969 |
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author | Mckniff, Moira Simone, Stephanie M. Giovannetti, Tania |
author_facet | Mckniff, Moira Simone, Stephanie M. Giovannetti, Tania |
author_sort | Mckniff, Moira |
collection | PubMed |
description | Loneliness has been linked to morbidity and mortality across the lifespan. Social media could reduce loneliness, though research on the relation between social media and loneliness has been inconclusive. This study used person-centered analyses to elucidate the inconsistencies in the literature and examine the possible role technology barriers played in the relation between social media use and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (n = 929; M age = 57.58 ± 17.33) responded to a series of online questions covering demographics, loneliness, technology barriers, and social media use (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) across a range of devices (e.g., computer, smartphone, etc.). A latent profile analysis was conducted to identify distinct profiles of social media use, loneliness patterns, and age. Results yielded five distinct profiles characterized that showed no systematic associations among age, social media use, and loneliness. Demographic characteristics and technology barriers also differed between profiles and were associated with loneliness. In conclusion, person-centered analyses demonstrated distinct groups of older and younger adults that differed on social media use and loneliness and may offer more fruitful insights over variable-centered approaches (e.g., regression/correlation). Technology barriers may be a viable target for reducing loneliness in adults. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10252391 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-102523912023-06-10 Age, Loneliness, and Social Media Use in Adults during COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis Mckniff, Moira Simone, Stephanie M. Giovannetti, Tania Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Loneliness has been linked to morbidity and mortality across the lifespan. Social media could reduce loneliness, though research on the relation between social media and loneliness has been inconclusive. This study used person-centered analyses to elucidate the inconsistencies in the literature and examine the possible role technology barriers played in the relation between social media use and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (n = 929; M age = 57.58 ± 17.33) responded to a series of online questions covering demographics, loneliness, technology barriers, and social media use (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) across a range of devices (e.g., computer, smartphone, etc.). A latent profile analysis was conducted to identify distinct profiles of social media use, loneliness patterns, and age. Results yielded five distinct profiles characterized that showed no systematic associations among age, social media use, and loneliness. Demographic characteristics and technology barriers also differed between profiles and were associated with loneliness. In conclusion, person-centered analyses demonstrated distinct groups of older and younger adults that differed on social media use and loneliness and may offer more fruitful insights over variable-centered approaches (e.g., regression/correlation). Technology barriers may be a viable target for reducing loneliness in adults. MDPI 2023-05-27 /pmc/articles/PMC10252391/ /pubmed/37297573 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20115969 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Mckniff, Moira Simone, Stephanie M. Giovannetti, Tania Age, Loneliness, and Social Media Use in Adults during COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis |
title | Age, Loneliness, and Social Media Use in Adults during COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis |
title_full | Age, Loneliness, and Social Media Use in Adults during COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis |
title_fullStr | Age, Loneliness, and Social Media Use in Adults during COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis |
title_full_unstemmed | Age, Loneliness, and Social Media Use in Adults during COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis |
title_short | Age, Loneliness, and Social Media Use in Adults during COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis |
title_sort | age, loneliness, and social media use in adults during covid-19: a latent profile analysis |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10252391/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37297573 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20115969 |
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