Frequency and Quality of Social

¶ … Frequency and quality of social networking among young adults: Associations with depressive symptoms, rumination, and corumination, (Davila et al., 2012), two studies were done in order to examine the associations between social networking and depressive symptoms among youth. In Study 1, 384 participants (68% female with a mean age of 20.22 years) were surveyed. In Study 2, 334 participants (62% female with a mean age of 19.44 years) were surveyed initially and then again three weeks later. The results showed that depressive symptoms were connected with quality of social networking interactions, not quantity. There was some evidence that depressive rumination moderated associations, and both depressive rumination and corumination were associated with aspects of social networking usage and quality. Implications for understanding circumstances that increase social networking, as well as resulting negative interactions and negative affect are discussed.

Sampling Strategy

Sampling for the first study was non-random and purposive. Participants were 384 young adults (68% female) enrolled in either an introductory psychology or abnormal psychology course during the 2009 -- 2010 academic year. Inclusion criterion required that participants be at least 18 years of age. Of those reporting ethnicity, 44% described themselves as Caucasian, 7% African-American, 31% Asian/Pacific Islander, 11% Latino, and 7% other. The Institutional Review Board at the affiliated university approved this research. Participants gave informed consent and then completed a packet of questionnaires regarding their social networking use, rumination, and depressive symptoms. Participants enrolled in introductory psychology completed the study in our lab and received course credit in exchange for participation. Participants enrolled in abnormal psychology completed the study in the classroom and participated voluntarily as part of a class activity.

Sampling for the second study was also non-random and purposive. Participants were 334 undergraduate students (62% female) enrolled in an introductory psychology course during the 2010 -- 2011 academic year. Inclusion criterion required that participants be at least 18 years of age. Forty-one percent described themselves as Caucasian, 41% Asian/Pacific Islander, 6% African-American, 6% Latino, and 6% other. The Institutional Review Board at the affiliated university approved this research. Participants provided informed consent and completed online questionnaires regarding social networking use and experiences, rumination, and depressive symptoms. Three weeks after the first survey participants in this group were e-mailed instructions to complete an online follow-up survey that included an assessment of depressive symptoms.

Critique

The sampling method that was used for these studies were appropriate in trying to answer the research question of how are social networking use and the quality of interactions associated with depressive symptoms? The major goal of purposive sampling is to center on specific characteristics of a population that are of interest, which will best enable a researcher to answer their questions. The sample being looked at is not representative of the population, but for researchers undertaking qualitative or mixed methods research designs, this is not thought to be a limitation (Purposive sampling: An overview, 2010).