The research article I selected presents research to determine the relationship between the use of LinkedIn and emotional distress such as anxiety and depression. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the frequency of LinkedIn use and emotional distress (anxiety and depression) among young adults (Jones et al., 2016). The relationships between the depended and independent variables were determined using bivariable and multivariable logistic regression.
The independent variable in the study was the use of LinkedIn, while the dependent variables were anxiety and depression. The independent variable was measured as a categorical variable consisting of three categories including the participants who did not use the professional network, those who used it less than once per week and the ones who used it for at least once per week. The dependent variables were measured using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS).
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The following was the hypothesis statement for the study:
Null hypothesis, H 0 : High incidence of use of LinkedIn would not be associated with rises in emotional distress
Alternative hypothesis, H 1 : High incidence of use of LinkedIn would be associated with rises in emotional distress
Stata was used to perform the statistical analyses in the study, and a two-tailed p-value was found to be less than 0.05, the level of significance. Since the p-value was significantly small, it supported the rejection of the null hypothesis. Therefore, there was sufficient evidence to show that a high incidence of use of LinkedIn would be associated with rises in emotional distress.
Notably, the main finding of the study was that the associations between LinkedIn use and emotional distress (anxiety and depression) were strong (Jones et al., 2016). The results were also similar when the researchers controlled the overall use of the social media, implying that the study’s major finding was not just a piece of the overall rise in the use of social media. Moreover, the findings are similar to those of previous studies, indicating that the overall using of social media has an association with anxiety and depression.
References
Jones, J., Colditz, J., Shensa, A., Sidani, J., Lin, L., Terry, M., & Primack, B. (2016). Associations Between Internet-Based Professional Social Networking and Emotional Distress. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, And Social Networking, 19(10), 601-608. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2016.0134
