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      The Relationship Between Use of Social Network Sites, Online Social Support, and Well-Being : Results From a Six-Wave Longitudinal Study

      research-article
      1 , , 1
      Journal of Media Psychology
      Hogrefe Publishing
      social network sites, well-being, social support, life satisfaction, stress

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          Abstract

          Abstract. Existing work on the effects of social network sites (SNS) on well-being has often stressed that SNS can help people gain social support from their online networks, which positively affects their well-being. However, the majority of studies in this area have been cross-sectional in nature and/or relied on student samples. Using data from six waves of a longitudinal study with a representative sample of Dutch Internet users, we first examined whether users and nonusers of SNS differ in online social support and well-being (as indicated by life satisfaction and stress). In a second step, we investigated in more detail how SNS use – more specifically, asking for advice and the number of strong ties on these SNS – are related to online social support, stress, and satisfaction with life. Overall, our results provide no evidence for SNS use and online social support affecting either stress or life satisfaction. SNS users reported more online social support than nonusers did, but also higher levels of stress; the two groups did not differ in overall life satisfaction. With regard to the underlying processes, we found positive cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between asking for advice on SNS and online social support, indicating that SNS can be an effective tool for receiving social support. However, online social support was not related to higher life satisfaction or reduced stress 6 months later; instead, it seems that SNS users with lower life satisfaction and/or higher stress seek more social support online by asking for advice on SNS.

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          Most cited references39

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          SOCIAL CAPITAL: PROSPECTS FOR A NEW CONCEPT.

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            Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models

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              Chi-Square Tests for Goodness of Fit and Contingency Tables

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                J Media Psychol
                J Media Psychol
                zmp
                Journal of Media Psychology
                Hogrefe Publishing
                1864-1105
                2151-2388
                September 1, 2017
                2017
                : 29
                : 3 , Special Issue: Media Use and Well-Being
                : 115-125
                Affiliations
                [ 1 ]Knowledge Media Research Center, Tübingen, Germany
                Author notes
                Sonja Utz, Knowledge Media Research Center, 72076 Tübingen, Germany, s.utz@ 123456iwm-tuebingen.de
                Article
                10.1027/1864-1105/a000222
                5683734
                29147141
                e3a74f9b-c0f1-4db5-9fc7-f6e12a56333e
                © 2017 Hogrefe Publishing

                Distributed under the Hogrefe OpenMind License (http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/a000001)

                History
                : October 14, 2016
                : April 26, 2017
                : May 10, 2017
                Categories
                Original Article

                social network sites,well-being,social support,life satisfaction,stress

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