9
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
5 collections
    0
    shares

      To submit your manuscript to JMIR, please click here

      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Social Capital–Accrual, Escape-From-Self, and Time-Displacement Effects of Internet Use During the COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Period: Prospective, Quantitative Survey Study

      research-article

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Background

          COVID-19 has spread like wildfire across the globe, prompting many governments to impose unprecedented stay-at-home orders to limit its transmission. During an extended stay-at-home period, individuals may engage in more online leisure activities. Internet use is a double-edged sword that may have both desirable and undesirable effects on psychological well-being, and this study sought to disentangle adaptive from maladaptive internet use amidst this unusual health crisis.

          Objective

          The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of probable depression during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period and to test three hypothesized risk reduction or risk elevation mechanisms, namely social capital–accrual, escape-from-self, and time-displacement effects.

          Methods

          This study took place from March to May 2020 at the early stage of the pandemic. The study adopted a prospective design, with an online survey administered to 573 UK and 474 US adult residents at two assessment points 2 months apart.

          Results

          The prevalence of moderate to severe depression was 36% (bootstrap bias-corrected and accelerated [BCa] 95% CI 33%-39%) at Time 1 (ie, initial time point) and 27% (bootstrap BCa 95% CI 25%-30%) at Time 2 (ie, follow-up time point). The results supported the social capital–accrual hypothesis by showing that the approach coping style was inversely associated with Time 2 depression through its positive associations with both social networking and perceived family support. The results also supported the escape-from-self hypothesis by revealing that the avoidant coping style was positively associated with Time 2 depression through its positive associations with both gaming and cyberbullying victimization, but the serial mediation model was no longer significant after Time 1 depression and some demographic risk factors had been controlled for. Finally, the results supported the time-displacement hypothesis by showing that gaming was positively associated with Time 2 depression through its inverse associations with social networking and perceived family support.

          Conclusions

          During the extended stay-at-home period in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of probable depression during the 2-month study period was high among the UK and US residents. Individuals with distinct coping styles may engage in different types of online leisure activities and perceive varying levels of social support, which are associated with risks of probable depression.

          Related collections

          Most cited references82

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: not found
          • Article: not found

          The CES-D Scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population

          L Radloff (1977)
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: found

            Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science

            Summary The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is having a profound effect on all aspects of society, including mental health and physical health. We explore the psychological, social, and neuroscientific effects of COVID-19 and set out the immediate priorities and longer-term strategies for mental health science research. These priorities were informed by surveys of the public and an expert panel convened by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the mental health research charity, MQ: Transforming Mental Health, in the first weeks of the pandemic in the UK in March, 2020. We urge UK research funding agencies to work with researchers, people with lived experience, and others to establish a high level coordination group to ensure that these research priorities are addressed, and to allow new ones to be identified over time. The need to maintain high-quality research standards is imperative. International collaboration and a global perspective will be beneficial. An immediate priority is collecting high-quality data on the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic across the whole population and vulnerable groups, and on brain function, cognition, and mental health of patients with COVID-19. There is an urgent need for research to address how mental health consequences for vulnerable groups can be mitigated under pandemic conditions, and on the impact of repeated media consumption and health messaging around COVID-19. Discovery, evaluation, and refinement of mechanistically driven interventions to address the psychological, social, and neuroscientific aspects of the pandemic are required. Rising to this challenge will require integration across disciplines and sectors, and should be done together with people with lived experience. New funding will be required to meet these priorities, and it can be efficiently leveraged by the UK's world-leading infrastructure. This Position Paper provides a strategy that may be both adapted for, and integrated with, research efforts in other countries.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): The epidemic and the challenges

              Highlights • Emergence of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China has caused a large global outbreak and major public health issue. • At 9 February 2020, data from the WHO has shown >37 000 confirmed cases in 28 countries (>99% of cases detected in China). • 2019-nCoV is spread by human-to-human transmission via droplets or direct contact. • Infection estimated to have an incubation period of 2–14 days and a basic reproduction number of 2.24–3.58. • Controlling infection to prevent spread of the 2019-nCoV is the primary intervention being used.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                J Med Internet Res
                J Med Internet Res
                JMIR
                Journal of Medical Internet Research
                JMIR Publications (Toronto, Canada )
                1439-4456
                1438-8871
                December 2020
                24 December 2020
                24 December 2020
                : 22
                : 12
                : e22740
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Social and Health Psychology Laboratory Department of Psychology The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong
                [2 ] Division of Psychology and Language Sciences University College London London United Kingdom
                [3 ] National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Bethesda, MD United States
                Author notes
                Corresponding Author: Cecilia Cheng ceci-cheng@ 123456hku.hk
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7250-2224
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2792-9699
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9061-1555
                Article
                v22i12e22740
                10.2196/22740
                7772052
                33320824
                ea698f86-9895-448e-86da-f7afe59ac1da
                ©Cecilia Cheng, Yan-Ching Lau, Jeremy W Luk. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 24.12.2020.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

                History
                : 22 July 2020
                : 19 September 2020
                : 8 October 2020
                : 14 December 2020
                Categories
                Original Paper
                Original Paper

                Medicine
                coping,coronavirus,covid-19,cyberaggression,cybervictimization,epidemic,gaming,mental health,psychological well-being,social networking,social support

                Comments

                Comment on this article