Joella Toth
Research Mentor(s): Jess Francis-Levin
Mentor Department: Life Course Development
Authors: JoElla Toth, Emily Briggs, Jess Francis-Levin
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 64
Abstract
There are few studies that explore the association of social community and depressive symptoms among the LGBTQ+ community. We want to understand how daily social media use may influence this relationship in a population that may rely on social media for community. This exploratory study aims to fill in the gap of the impact of community and social media use on depressive symptoms within the LGBTQ+ population. Our online survey explored topics such as health, loneliness, disability, abuse, and social media use. Participants (n = 340) were aged 18-74 years old and all identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community. An analysis of this relationship reveals the impact of community on depressive symptoms. Results of a moderation analysis indicated that daily social media use was significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms (ß = 1.49, p <.05). The interaction between social community and daily social media use approached statistical significance (ß = -0.05, p = 0.08), suggesting a potential moderation effect of in person community on the detrimental effects of social media consumption. However, social community alone was not a significant predictor of depressive symptoms (ß = -0.03, p = 0.16).) Though the study cannot be generalized due to small sample size, it reveals the need to expand research on how online social community impacts the well-being of a queer person to a larger, more diverse sample. This will improve understanding of LGBTQ+ needs.
