Depression and Behavioral Changes Associated with Social Media Dependency During COVID-19 Pandemic Among University Students in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Depression and Behavioral Changes Associated with Social Media Dependency During COVID-19 Pandemic Among University Students in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

Sushmita Karmokar , Rakibul Hasan 1 , Md. Ashraful Islam 1 , Mohammad Hamid Al Muktadir 2 , Talha Bin Emran 1 , Abu Montakim Tareq 3 , Mohammad Nurul Amin 4,5*

6 1 Department of Food Technology and Nutrition Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh 2 Department of Public Health, American International University Bangladesh, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh 3 Department of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Chittagong, Chittagong 4318, Bangladesh 4 Department of Pharmacy, Atish Dipankar University of Science and Technology, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh 5 Pratyasha Health Biomedical Research Center, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh 6 Department of Pharmacy, BGC Trust University Bangladesh, Chittagong 4381, Bangladesh

Abs tra c t Background: With its rapid spread, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a detrimental effect on students’ psychological well-being, depression, and behavioral changes due to indefinite educational leaves, lockdowns, restricted outdoor activities, and excess use of social media. This study aims to assess the relationship of social media exposure with the psychological well-being, depression, and behavioral changes of Bangladeshi university students. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional survey was carried out on 530 students from June 17 to July 10, 2020, to evaluate psychological well-being, depression, behavioral changes, and social media exposure via self-reported measures. Results: The prevalence of factors were as follows: poor psychological well-being was 24.9%; moderate to severe depression was 56.6%; severe behavioral changes was 32.1%; and of moderate to severe addiction to social media exposure was 38.3%. All factors were positively associated with social media exposure. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the addiction of participants to social media was 7.488 times higher with severe behavioral changes (OR: 7.488; 95% CI 4.708–11.909), 2.299 times higher with poor psychological functioning (OR: 2.299; 95% CI 1.421–3.721), 30.54 times higher with severe depressed (OR: 30.54; 95% CI 15.0–62.177) than that of individuals without such symptoms. Conclusions: The above findings imply that the government needs to pay greater attention to improve the overall situation of Bangladeshi university students.

K e ywo rds : behavioral changes, COVID-19, depression, psychological well-being, social media