Facebook and Diagnosis of Depression: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

A mixed-methods research design was employed to investigate the association between depression and Facebook use. An online questionnaire was completed by 135 participants from a medium-sized Australian university. Follow-up semi-structured interviews were conducted with 4 of 10 participants who volunteered to be interviewed. Although 25% of students were identified as at-risk for depression, quantitative analyses revealed no significant differences in Facebook use for at-risk versus not at-risk participants. None of the 5 at-risk students who volunteered to be interviewed actually responded to repeated attempts to make an interview time, whereas 4/5 not-at-risk students were interviewed. Notably, discrepancies in Facebook use reported in self-report questionnaire and interview data were revealed, which have implications for researchers when interpreting self-report Facebook usage data.