HUBUNGAN INTENSITAS PENGGUNAAN SITUS JEJARING SOSIAL DENGAN DEPRESI PADA MAHASISWA TINGKAT AKHIR

Abstract

Background: Social networking sites (SNSs) have become part of student’s daily life including final year university students. SNSs usage can positively and negatively impacts users. Several recent studies found out that excessive SNSs usage can cause psychological disorder, such as depression. Aim: Knowing the correlation between intensity of social networking sites usage and severity of depression in final year university students. Methods: An observational analytic study using cross sectional design was conducted on 211 students from Faculty of Medicine Diponegoro University. Respondents were given informed consent, filled out a set of questionnaires, such as demographics data questionnaire, Social Networking Time Use Scale (SONTUS), and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Analyses of the relationship between variables were done by Cramer's V and Spearman correlation test. Results: Among respondents, 35,1% were reported using SNSs with low intensity, 46,9% with medium intensity, 17,1% with high intensity, and 0,9% with very high intensity; and 83,9% of respondents had no depression, 10,4% had mild depression, 4,3% had moderate depression, and 1,4% had severe depression. Significant positive correlation was found between intensity of SNSs usage and severity of depression (p<0,001, rs=0,367), gender (p<0,05, φc=0,242), and monthly allowance (p<0.05, rs=0,118), and between monthly allowance and severity of depression (p<0,001, rs=0,227). Body mass index (BMI) and academic performance have no correlation with intensity of SNSs usage, likewise gender, BMI, and academic performance with severity of depression. Conclusion: There is a significant correlation between the intensity of SNSs usage and severity of depression on final year university students. Keywords: social networking sites, depression, final year students