COVID-19 Stress, Facebook Use Intensity and coping strategies of Filipino students: An analysis of data collected during a pandemic

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3863721/v1

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COVID-19 Stress, Facebook Use Intensity and coping strategies of Filipino students: An analysis of data collected during a pandemic

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3863721/v1

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with significant levels of stress worldwide. For students, the shifts from in-person to virtual platforms may not only affect learning but also other aspects of their lives, which may yield certain levels of distress due to the uncertainties of the pandemic. Because of pandemic-related restrictions, students have turned to online resources and platforms such as social media for information, entertainment and social connection. Given findings that display the interaction of social media on different forms of stress, there is a need to look at how COVID-19 stress, which has created even more distance between students and typical forms of coping. Hence, this quantitative study explored the relationship between COVID-19 stress and Facebook use intensity among college students. The regression analysis of responses from 220 college students indicated a strong positive relationship. As college students’ COVID-19 stress increased, Facebook use intensity also got higher. With the rising need and popularity of social media and the development of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, people continue to rely on the internet and online means to satisfy social needs. The findings of this study does not only report an increase in frequency of Facebook use, but also the intensification of college students’ engagement as brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The moderation analysis showed that Approach and Avoidant coping when taken on their own, do not significantly moderate the relationship. When taken together, Approach and Avoidant coping significantly moderate the relationship on a minimal level. This confirms the contention that since social media use is highly subjective on an individual’s motives, coping through social media use also involves a combination of different types of coping.

COVID-19 Stress

Facebook Use Intensity

social media

coping

A global pandemic is a significant event that could reshape how society functions; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic also include disease-related stress among individuals as seen in the past pandemics (Lau et al., 2016). Research and clinical observations also suggest that people experience stress, anxiety and even traumatic symptoms, which include having fears of being infected, being in close contact with infected persons or foreigners, objects or surfaces, experiencing socio-economic effects, seeking reassurance and compulsive checking (Taylor et al., 2020). Ye et al. (2020) stated that during the initial stages of the pandemic, stressful experiences from the outbreak or government responses were accelerating rapidly and slowly developing into an acute stress disorder. Most students who were under a COVID-19 general quarantine also showed mild to severe symptoms of general anxiety disorder and high levels of perceived stress (Abdulghani et al., 2020; Rogowska et al., 2020; Son et al., 2020). The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress were also elevated especially those who are in home-quarantine, with strong correlations observed among these mental health issues and various demographic, health-related, and lifestyle factors (Hamaideh et al., 2021; Hathaway et al., 2021). This increased amount of stress may be due to some reasons such as uncertainties about the health and safety of oneself and family, decreased social interactions, government lockdowns, having a hard time concentrating, and concerns about academic performance. These concerns were echoed by Batra et al. (2021) in their meta-analysis which revealed that college students were significantly burdened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the existing interventions appear to be relatively less available for them. Additionally, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been observed that the prevalence of psychological stress within the student population may surpass the global prevalence rates of psychological stress (Fang et al., 2022).

At the height of distress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, an interesting phenomenon which was observed was that of the use of digital platforms that required less physical contact with other people. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in the time spent online was seen in developing countries; there was an increasing trend in terms of social media use (Poushter et al., 2018). Facebook is the most popular social media platform, especially for college students (Junco & Cole-Avent, 2008). Its popularity continued to grow until 2015, where it has become a brand of choice for most social networking site users (Rains & Brunner, 2015). For five consecutive years, Filipinos have the most significant time spent on social media globally, and based on recent social media statistics, Facebook continues to be the most popular social networking site in the Philippines (Kemp, 2023). Because of the integration of social media in Filipinos’ lives, it was not surprising that there was an increase in the time spent on social media during the pandemic (Lee et al., 2022).

More than just time spent on social media, it is also important to note that Filipinos have also used social media more intensely in the past years. For this study, we focused on the intensity of Facebook use in Filipino students. Ellison et al. (2007) defined Facebook intensity as not just mere frequency or duration of its use but also emotional connectedness and how it is combined to the user's everyday activities. Sheldon (2008) identified six Facebook use motives among students, which include relationship maintenance, passing time, virtual community, entertainment, companionship, and coolness. College students log on to social media accounts such as Facebook for different purposes, such as social connection, shared identities, content, social investigation, social network surfing, and status updating (Joinson, 2008). College students go on Facebook daily as an essential social area, to communicate with others, exchange relevant information, share academic experiences, and maintain a supportive community (Freitas & Leonard, 2011; Junco, 2012; Lambic, 2016; Rayle & Chung, 2007).

Facebook use was also linked to higher psychological well-being levels among users that use the platform for friendship (Rae & Lonborg, 2015). Facebook users who received more social support online have a better inclination to have a superior resilience level (Chung et al., 2014). Filipino students who utilize Facebook for voicing personal ideas and styles are more likely to be driven to contribute to the overall classroom learning experience (Datu et al., 2018), indicating the use of Facebook to increase and satisfy a students' need for autonomy. Students who use Facebook to counter boredom eventually overcome it and regain their interest in academics. But as Lee et al. (2020) pointed out, social media use was associated with elevated levels of depressive and anxious symptoms. This brings into light the possibility that Facebook might be detrimental to one’s mental health. Apart from mental health distress, problematic Facebook use was seen to have negative impact on well-being (Marino et al., 2018). Additionally, daily stress was positively related to Facebook use intensity and addiction and the tendency to experience negative emotions (Brailovskaia et al., 2019; Jafri, 2015). College students’ higher Facebook use is also attributed with stress, higher levels of stress, and having less control of things (Gabre and Kumar, 2012). Dysfunctional coping could also include social media's problematic use as studies found out that students often rely on mobile devices and screen time to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic (Kaur et al., 2022); however, healthy use could also help people deal with stress (Demirtepe-Saygili, 2020). Datu et al. (2019) also found out that students who devote extreme time on Facebook are susceptible to avoid school-related tasks and instead spend their time on the platform. These exhibit the mixed bag of the impact of social media on stress and overall student life. As the COVID-19 pandemic went on, student went online and took to social media to learn about COVID-19, its transmission and prevention as well as strict personal protective measures (Baloran, 2020). It was also discovered that problematic use of Facebook has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic among university students and was associated with having lower income, longer internet use, and using the internet for other purposes aside from education (Sayeed et al., 2023). These factors associated with problematic Facebook use are prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic due to social restrictions in place to combat the spread of the virus. This gave the potential for Facebook and social media use to be double-edged as student did not only learn about the pandemic but may have also contracted anxiety and distress due to learning about its negative impact and the death toll it wrought.

However, given the circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the strategies that students typically employ to buffer such a distressing event have shifted to ways that are done within the confines of their homes, and some have readily turned to instant methods to alleviate stress online, such as the use of social media. Schmalz et al. (2015) identified social media as one of the quicker means to deal with the experiences encountered. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, students also sought support from others and helped themselves by adopting different mechanisms that fall within the spectrum of positive to negative means of coping such as connecting with family and friends, and stress management provided by schools (Austria-Cruz, 2019; Son et al., 2020). As these have become relatively scarce at the height of the pandemic, typical Filipino students’ coping strategies like religious coping, resting, being busy, and going out with friends accessible and cost-efficient (Austria-Cruz, 2019), have become less accessible or even impossible to employ. This made online means of handling the distress more doable for many students, who appeared to need support. Successfully satisfying this need for support could reduce stress, whether done through social media or traditional means, as studies found that social connectedness is shown to reduce stress in different contexts (Rayle & Chung, 2007). Chung et al. (2014) indicated that the type of online social support does not matter since it is reported that emotional, information, and appraisal social support are useful in predicting the degree of stress among Facebook users. Additionally, online social support is comparable to conventional social support since it almost functions the same way. In terms of coping, online social support also helps Facebook users reduce stress and aids resilience to weaken the effects of stressors (Chung et al., 2014). Thus, it may be argued that the use of Facebook is indeed part of a plethora of coping, in that it addresses students’ needs related to learning and socialization.

Lazarus & Folkman (1984) indicated that people would cope using a broad range of problem-focused coping (focusing on the problem at hand and devising means to alter the source of the problem) and emotion-focused coping (focusing on certain affective consequences of situations and attempts to lessen the perceived negative feelings associated with the stressor). Roth and Cohen (1986) later conceptualised coping to be directional in response to the stressor, from which two other types of coping were obtained. Approach coping referred to any activity that moves an individual towards the stressor (e.g. seeking information, solving the problem), while avoidance coping moves the individual away from any threat (e,g. denying, withdrawing) (Roth & Cohen, 1986). Positive outcomes correlated with the use of more approach coping and less avoidance coping (Dubow & Rubinlicht, 2011)

Eliminating stress sources and obtaining relevant information might be ineffective among students during the COVID-19 pandemic and some seem better off using emotion-oriented coping such as daydreaming and self-preoccupation (Rogowska et al., 2020). Furthermore, highly addicted people to social media are more likely to have lower mindfulness and adopt emotion-focused coping (Sriwilai & Charoensukmongkol, 2015). Heavy users of Facebook have been found to be more susceptible to use maladaptive coping when faced with stress (Jafri, 2015). However, due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, coping strategies have been difficult to employ, and the nature of coping strategies has been shifted online. With the recent changes in the landscape of the country, the repertoire of coping strategies is also geared towards those that are done instantly, given the restrictions regarding traveling, social gathering, and other typical means that people employ to cope with their situation. Hence, students may be likely to resort to online means of coping with their distress, making them utilize social media more intensely as though it could become the answer to existing distress during the pandemic.

There is a scant amount of literature that suggest a positive role of social media in coping with negative psychological states. Cauberghe et al. ( found that social media was used to adapt to changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and coping in this manner allowed for diminished negative impact of anxiety on happiness. Social capital, which allows individuals to collaborate to pursue objectives may also mediate the positive relationship between social media use and psychological well-being (Ostic et al.. Gender differences were noted by other literature, which found that girls, who used social media more, as compared to boys, had lower states of well-being (Lujiten et al., ). Personality factors also mattered such that they explained a greater portion of social media use in boys, in contrast to girls, and this was evidenced by differing patterns of uses of social media (Li & Ni, ). Maftei et al. (2023) recently found that social media use also positively predicted well-being in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this was highly dependent on the cognitions related to the expectation of receiving gratification on social media. Furthermore, adolescents who possess depressive symptoms were found to be more apt to using social media in improving their psychological wellbeing.

These recent studies show how coping can help explain the relationship between stress and Facebook use intensity. Effective coping strategies, such as Approach coping, may help individuals better handle stressors. These coping strategies could potentially reduce the negative impact of stress on excessive or problematic Facebook use. For instance, someone who effectively manages their stress through healthy coping mechanisms might be less inclined to turn to Facebook as a means of escaping from stressors or as a form of distraction. Conversely, ineffective coping strategies, such as Avoidant coping, may exacerbate the relationship between stress and Facebook use, leading to a greater reliance on the platform as a way to cope with stress. This could result in a vicious cycle where excessive Facebook use, in turn, causes more stress.

Due to the varied findings about social media and its association with stress and coping, this study focused on the relationship between Facebook use intensity and COVID-19 stress. It answers the question: To what extent is Facebook use intensity related to COVID-19 stress? It was hypothesised that there is a positive relationship between Facebook use intensity and COVID-19 stress. This study further explores the moderating role of coping, by specifically asking: How do stress coping strategies (Approach, Avoidant and a combination of both types of coping) moderate the relationship between Facebook use intensity and COVID-19 induced-stress? It is hypothesised that student’s type of coping strategy would moderate the relationship between Facebook use engagement and COVID-19 induced-stress. Avoidant coping would strengthen the relationship between the two, while Approach coping would weaken it.

The participants were 220 Filipino college students aged 18–25 years old from different colleges and universities in the Northern Philippines who were enrolled and have completed at least one semester during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifty-four percent (54%) were males and forty-six percent (46%) were females. The participants were enrolled in either modular or online learning systems. Likewise, the participants were familiar with the use of Facebook and have used the application for at least 2 years. The study excluded participants who did not finish a semester during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as those who were below 18 years old and had a different nationality. Participants who used Facebook for less than 2 years and/or have deactivated their accounts were excluded from the study.

COVID Stress Scale

The COVID Stress Scale by Taylor et al. (2020) was given to the participants to assess their COVID-19 related distress. The scale consists of 36 items that are accomplished with a 5-point scale that ranges from 4 – Almost always to 0 – Never. The scale items were categorised into five distinct factors that correspond to COVID-related stress and anxiety symptoms. The factors are danger and contamination fears, fears about economic consequences, xenophobia, compulsive checking and reassurance-seeking, and traumatic stress symptoms about COVID-19. The cut-off scores for categorizing COVID Stress severity are as follows: l-5 for low, 5–16 for mild, 17–36 for average, 37–71 for high, and 72 or more for severe. The total score for CSS was used for correlational and moderation analysis. The scale was determined to have good-to-excellent reliability as internal consistency within all of the factors was reported to each have a Cronbach alpha coefficient of > .80. Findings also showed that the scale has a significant convergent validity (Taylor et al., 2020).

Facebook Use Intensity Scale

The Facebook use intensity scale developed by Ellison et al. (2007) was used to measure Facebook usage. The scale aims to measure beyond simple measures of frequency and duration, integrating emotional connectedness to the site and its combination to the user’s everyday activities. The scale is used in its original form of having eight items. The Facebook use intensity scale is reliable and is reported to have a Cronbach alpha = .830. Response categories from items 1 to 6 ranges from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree while the items 7 and 8 have a 5-point ordinal scale. The Facebook Intensity score was computed by calculating the mean of all of the items in the scale.

Brief-COPE Scale

The Brief-COPE is a 28 item self-report questionnaire designed to measure effective and ineffective ways to cope with a stressful life event. The scale is composed of 28 items that were answered with a 4-point scale ranging from 4 – I’ve been doing this a lot and 1 – I haven’t been doing this at all. The items are categorised into 14 subscales which are Self-distraction, Active coping, Denial, Substance use, Emotional support, Use of informational support, Behavioral disengagement, Venting, Positive reframing, Planning, Humor, Acceptance, Religion, and Self-blame. These coping items can be additionally grouped into broader categories of coping strategies, such as approach and avoidant coping (Carver et al., 1989). As per the recommendations of Carver et al. (1989), exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation was needed to examine the factor construction of the short Brief COPE scale and to deliver information for subscale establishment (Eisenberg, 2012). The analysis identified two major factors underlying the scale which are approach and avoidant coping which has internal consistency of Cronbach alpha = .71 and Cronbach alpha = .70 respectively (Eisenberg, 2012). However, items from Humor and Religion loaded into both of the factors which were not included in further analyses on this study. Sample items include “I've been getting comfort and understanding from someone” and “I've been thinking hard about what steps to take” (See Appendix D). Score was computed by getting the sum of all scores from the items under each of the two factors.

Procedures

A survey form was floated online through different social media sites and forums. The researchers approached key school officials from the different universities to ask permission to share the survey to their students via social media groups. Consent was obtained from the participants with the informed consent form that was embedded in the online survey form used in data collection. The study underwent ethics review with __________. Debriefing procedures were employed when participants presented with high ratings of COVID-19 stress. Participants with such ratings were provided contact details and referred to mental health professionals and agencies that provided interventions and/or assessment for psychological distress.

Statistical Analysis

The researchers used simple regression to determine the relationship between Facebook intensity and COVID-19 induced-stress. Additionally, moderation analysis was also applied to find out if stress coping strategy moderated the relationship. The data collected were encoded in a digital spreadsheet which were checked and subjected to further data cleaning. Outliers were also be monitored and treated accordingly. The data gathered were statistically treated using a computer program.

To provide a glimpse of the participants in terms of their COVID-19 stress and Facebook Use Intensity, the average scores Table 1 presents the average levels of these variables.

Table 1

*Mean summary for the students’ level of COVID-19 Stress and Facebook Use Intensity*
Scale	Minimum Score	Maximum Score	M	Standard Deviation
COVID-19 Stress	43	127	83.05	18.90
Facebook Use	2.00	4.88	3.70	0.72

The data shows that college students are indeed stressed out during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID stress scale used in measuring the students’ level of COVID-19 stress has a score range of 0-144. Taylor et al. (2020) stated that the higher the score in the COVID-19 stress scale, the higher stress experienced. The score range for the COVID stress scale was computed and yielded the following range of scores: very low = 0.00-28.8, low = 28.9–57.6, moderate = 57.7–86.4, high = 86.5-115.2, very high = 115.3–144. The mean score (M = 83.05) of the students on the COVID stress scale indicates that they have moderate COVID-19 stress, which further implies that they are indeed experiencing stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The maximum score attained by the students is also considered high, which means that some students experience high amounts of stress.

On the other hand, the data also shows that students use and integrate the Facebook platforms into their lives. The scale used to determine the intensity of the students’ Facebook use has a score range of 1–8, yielding the following interpretations for the participants’ scores for Facebook use intensity: very low = 1.00-1.80, low = 1.81–2.60, moderate = 2.61–3.40, high 3.41–3.20, very high = 4.21–5.00. This situates the mean score (M = 3.70) of participants at the high range. This is a confirmation that college students indeed use Facebook in their daily lives.

The relationship of COVID-19 Stress and Facebook use

The authors explored the relationship between COVID-19 Stress and Facebook use among college students via a simple linear regression. From this analysis, it was found that there was a strong positive relationship between COVID-19 Stress and Facebook use, (r(218) = .733, p < .001). The overall regression analysis was significant and COVID-19 stress appears to predict Facebook use, (F(1,218) = 254.186, R² = 0.538, β = 0.734, p < .001), which implies that any increase in the level of distress related to the COVID-19 pandemic results to an increase in the use of Facebook. This model also accounted for 53.8% of variance. Table 2 shows the regression table for the relationship between COVID-19 stress and Facebook use.

Table 2

*Regression Analysis summary for the relationship between COVID-19 Stress and Facebook*
Variable	B	95% CI	β	t	p
COVID-19 Stress and Facebook use	0.028	[0.025, 0.032]	0.734	12.880	.000***
Note. R² = 0.538. CI = confidence interval for B. F(1,218) = 165.894. ***p < .001

The Moderating effect of Coping Strategies on the Relationship between Facebook use and COVID-19 Induced-stress

The second problem looked at coping strategies as a moderator of the relationship between COVID-19 induced-stress and Facebook use among college students. Moderation analysis was conducted to test whether Approach and Avoidant coping have differing impacts on the relationship between COVID-19 induced-stress and Facebook use differs. When Facebook use served as the criterion, the interaction between COVID-19 induced-stress and Approach coping (b = 0.0046, t = -1.8536, p < .05) was not significant. Indicating that Approach coping was not a significant moderator of the relationship between COVID-19 induced-stress and Facebook use. On the other hand, the interaction of COVID-19 induced-stress and Avoidant coping accounted for a non-significant variance in Facebook use (b = 0.0050, t = 1.9200, p < .05) which means that Avoidant coping is not a significant moderator for the relationship between COVID-19 induced-stress and Facebook use. Lastly, the three-way interaction involving COVID-19 induced-stress, Approach coping, and Avoidant coping resulted in a significant coefficient on Facebook use, (b = -0.0002, t = -1.9227, p < .05) which indicates that the interaction of the three predictors significantly predict Facebook use. This interaction only accounted for 0.82% change on COVID-19 predicting Facebook use. Table 3 below shows the findings based on the moderation analysis.

Table 3

*Moderation table for Approach and Avoidant coping on the relationship between COVID-19 Induced-stress and Facebook use*
Moderator	R² change	b	SE		t		p
COVID-19 Induced-stress x Approach coping	0.0003	0.0046	.0025		1.8536		0.0652
COVID-19 Induced-stress x Avoidant Coping	0.0000	0.0050	.0026	1.9200		0.0562
COVID-19 Induced-stress x Approach coping x Avoidant Coping	0.0082	-0.0002	.0068		-1.9727		0.0498

The interaction of COVID-19 induced-stress and Avoidant coping on the variance of Facebook use was plotted using the simple main effects equation, utilizing values ± 1 standard deviation from the mean. In general, Fig. 2 shows that those with higher levels of COVID-19 induced-stress tend to use Facebook more intensely and this relationship seems amplified when a person has higher levels of avoidant coping. However, given that the lines tend to intersect at some point between average and high levels of avoidant coping, these tendencies appear to wane when avoidant coping becomes relatively too high, creating a phenomenon where individuals with lower levels of COVID-19-induced stress tend to use Facebook more intensely when their level of avoidant coping is lower. In a practical sense, this means that a person with a high level of avoidant coping encounters high levels of COVID-19-induced stress, they are more likely to use Facebook less intensely.

The interaction of COVID-19 induced-stress and Avoidant coping on the variance of Facebook use was likewise plotted using the simple main effects equation, utilizing values ± 1 standard deviation from the mean. The lines on the graph in Fig. 3 do not intersect, which indicates that Approach coping does not moderate the relationship between COVID-19 induced-stress and Facebook use. Those with higher levels of COVID-19 induced-stress tend to have exceptionally higher Facebook use when they possess higher levels of Approach coping. Comparatively, as levels of both avoidant and approach coping styles increase, the intensity of Facebook use likewise continue to increase when COVID-19-induced stress appears to heighten. As such, this indicates that these coping styles when examined on their own have little impact on the relationship as a moderator, but both actually increase alongside the appearance of high levels of COVID-19-induced stress as experienced by college students.

The interaction between Avoidant Coping and Approach Coping was also plotted against the relationship of COVID-19 induced-stress and Facebook use. This was done by plotting the values obtained from the Johnson-Neyman output. The region of significance is determined by the locations where the upper and lower bounds of the 95% confidence interval intersect zero (i.e., for any values of the moderator for which the confidence bands do not contain zero, the effect of the predictor on the outcome is significantly different from zero). Results showed that there was a significant interaction of COVID-19 induced-stress and Approach-Avoidance coping in predicting Facebook use intensity (b = − .0002 SE = 0.0068, t = -1.9727, p = 0.0498). Figure 4 reveals the area in which the three-way interaction is significant, particularly when COVID-19 induced-stress is considered very high. Such finding indicates that individuals seem to use Facebook more intensely when they experience COVID-19 induced-stress especially when the level of distress appears to be at the highest levels (M ≥ 123.78). However, this relationship is moderated when a person has high levels of both avoidant and approach coping (M = 44.80), in that the use of Facebook tends to be buffered or lessened when a person is in high distress due to COVID-19 and when both types of coping appear to be present in the individual, as indicated by a decreasing slope.

Even before the pandemic, students already faced a lot of potential sources of stress. Son et al. (2020) stated that students had heightened stress and anxiety levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Depression, anxiety, and stress rates were notably higher among university students, especially among those in home-quarantine, and strong correlations were found with demographic, and health-related and lifestyle factors (Hamaideh et al., 2021; Hathaway et al., 2021). Furthermore, Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, student populations have shown higher rates of psychological stress than global norms (Fang et al., 2022). This increased amount of stress may be due to some reasons such as uncertainties about the health and safety of oneself and family, decreased social interactions, government lockdowns, having a hard time concentrating, and concerns about academic performance. The sudden shift from traditional learning to online or modular learning is also a factor (Abdulghani et al., 2020), and one of the means for students to somehow address the stress especially during the pandemic is the use of social media. Nowadays, college students log on to Facebook for different purposes. Students primarily use Facebook to communicate with their peers and classmates, exchange academic information, and share academic experiences (Lambic, 2016). The need to use Facebook increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic since it is one of the only ways for them to communicate with each other and socialize, given the social restrictions imposed by the government. Facebook can also be an avenue for students to communicate, socialize and maintain a supportive community (Freitas & Leonard, 2011; Rae & Lonborg, 2015; Rayle & Chung, 2007). With the cancellations of in-person classes, the use of Facebook for communication is more significant than ever during the pandemic.

The positive relationship of Facebook use intensity with COVID-19 stress implies that as college students experience said stress, the more likely Facebook is integrated into their lives. Another study also found out that daily stress is positively related to Facebook use intensity and Facebook addiction (Brailovskaia et al., 2019). This daily stress may be ramped up due to the uncertainties that a pandemic may bring thus making the COVID-19 pandemic situation a major source of stress for many, especially for students. Problematic Facebook use rose among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic and linked to lower income, extended internet usage, and non-educational internet activities (Sayeed et al., 2023). These factors became prominent during the pandemic due to social restrictions to curb the virus. This is evident with the mean score indicating that, on average, students experience moderate amounts of COVID-19 stress. Having a heightened sense of stress may also bring more screen time on social media sites like Facebook.

Additionally, as people stay at home more during a pandemic, they are more likely to socially engage online which may be unsuccessful for some people depending on how it is done. Socializing and connecting to people is a need that must be met and satisfied. These phenomena are very much present during a pandemic which restricts people to engage on in-person social interactions. The need for social interaction when not met may lead to further stress and for the students on lockdowns, they could only satisfy this through social media like Facebook. This does not necessarily mean that Facebook use is a coping mechanism for stress, but a way to satisfy their need for connection.

This indirect connection of stress from the need for connection and Facebook use may explain their significant relationship. Sheldon (2008) identified the six reasons why students choose to use Facebook which are entertainment, virtual community, and relationship maintenance. During the pandemic, social activities may be difficult and at times impossible for some because of the restrictions imposed by the government leading to further stress. This is where the use of Facebook comes in. These activities that are challenging to fulfill can be done virtually through social media which may explain how stress is related to Facebook use. Students at this stage are in need of interpersonal connections for them to feel a sense of validation and to prepare themselves as they transition into adulthood. This is explained by most interpersonal and social theories also explaining that stress may come if they are not able to satisfy or overcome their social needs. This gets complicated during the pandemic since their ability to interact is limited and only done mostly through social media. The current study’s findings points out that there is a relationship between Facebook use and COVID-19 stress. However, the study does not suggest Facebook as coping mechanism for stress but rather a way to solve the issues leading to stress that students are experiencing or having difficulty achieving. These findings confirm the present study’s hypothesis that higher levels of COVID-19 stress are related to higher levels of Facebook use Intensity.

The results show that Approach and Avoidant coping individually does not moderate the relationship between COVID-19 induced-stress and Facebook use. This might be explained by the mean scores of students on both Approach and Avoidant being interpreted as students agree to use both coping methods on almost the same level. This also means that regardless of the students’ stress levels, Facebook use is almost the same for low, average, or high Approach coping which is also the same for Avoidant coping. This paved the way for the interaction of both coping approaches to be used together and with COVID-19 to predict Facebook use. The interaction effects are significant between Approach and Avoidant coping together and COVID-19 induced-stress with Facebook use as the criterion. Both Approach and Avoidant coping together appears to minimally increase the relationship between COVID-19 induced-stress and Facebook use which may also be the reason why on their own, the two coping methods are not significant. This shows that there is a possibility that a Facebook user is one who employs both Approach and Avoidant coping when doing so. This is further explained by the items of the scale used to identify the students’ coping strategies of the present study. For instance, one might agree with the item under Avoidant coping that says “I've been saying things to let my unpleasant feelings escape” while also agreeing with the item under Approach coping that says “I've been accepting the reality of the fact that it has happened”. It could mean that the student accepts the reality of what happened by letting his unpleasant feelings escape. This sets the picture on how Approach and Avoidant coping are not significant moderators on their own but together are minimally significant since they can be used by the students together. These results are inconsistent with previous studies concerning coping, stress, and Facebook use. Jafri (2015) concluded that emotion-focused or avoidant coping users are more likely to be heavy users of Facebook. The reason for this relationship according from the same study could be that heavy users of Facebook tend to have negative emotions and are so preoccupied with using the platform that they ignore to face their issues actively (Jafri, 2015). This inconsistency of results may be explained by the fact that previous studies are not done during or has not accounted for a pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the lives of many in various ways including how they cope with stress and their sources of stress. Another study to support the relationship of Facebook use and coping states that people who are highly addicted to social media are susceptible to deal with stress through emotion focused coping (Sriwilai & Charoensukmongkol, 2015). The discrepancy of results between the current study and the past studies could be explained by the fact that students during the COVID-19 pandemic experience a kind of stress that they may have not experienced before which renders their current coping arsenal to be adjusted. During the COVID-19 pandemic the most common experienced stressors by students were being informed about the seriousness of COVID-19, requirement of social distancing and the uncertain length of lockdowns, and deviations from personal daily care routines (Park et. Al, 2020). These sources of stress are not the usual types that people experience before thus adjusting and coping from it needs to be done through means that are not usually done before the pandemic. For students to overcome this stress, they resort to following strict personal protective measures and learning about COVID-19 transmission prevention (Baloran, 2020), distraction, active coping, and seeking emotional social support (Park et. Al, 2020), having a daily routine, physical activity, and positive reappraisal/reframing (Shanahan, 2020). These coping strategies may fall under Avoidant coping, Approach coping or both depending on the students. Furthermore, the difference in results of the current study and previous studies shows that coping during a pandemic is different from when people are not restricted on how they go on about their lives. People during the COVID-19 pandemic are more reliant on the internet and social media specially the students who are mostly attending their online classes. Not being able to reduce stress may end up in more use of Facebook as per the results of this study. Students’ usual coping styles may not be effective during the COVID-19 pandemic due to restrictions and even before the pandemic, they will always resort to different coping styles and not rely on only Approach or Avoidant coping alone hence the current study’s results. The new experiences during COVID-19 pandemic and the ways of the students’ coping during this phenomenon may explain the divergence of the current study from previous ones.

The study's results present an interesting insight regarding Facebook use intensity and COVID-19 stress among college students. As the results show, the amount of distress as brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has further resulted to college students being more entrenched in their use of Facebook. It is indeed true that daily stress is a normal part of life, but this level of stress may have been amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic because of different reasons and experiences that vary from person to person. Having little choice but to stay at home leads to stress and people continue to rely on the internet and social media platforms to satisfy their social needs that were normally done in person. This phenomenon may not be healthy for students since it could create a loop where they use Facebook when they are stressed, but then the content seen on the platform about the pandemic may also bring additional stress. This may disrupt their focus and attention, leading to poor academic performance, which is not favorable due to the new culture of online or modular classes. Being stressed also makes an individual have lesser control of things, including their control of using social media sites, especially during a pandemic where uncertainties are everywhere. Though socializing online can enhance well-being through socialization, sometimes the use of Facebook to an excessive degree may also be detrimental to one’s mental health.

The study also revealed that Avoidant and Approach coping separately on their own do not moderate the relationship between Facebook use and COVID-19-induced stress. However, the two types of coping together strengthen the relationship between COVID-19-induced stress and Facebook use but not that much. Students generally use different kinds of coping methods to alleviate stress before the pandemic. They are used to dealing with stress that they meet regularly, such as academics, relationships, finances, etc. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, their coping arsenal is challenged by a new type of stress source that they might not have experienced before. Students might try to use their usual ways to cope with stress, but the restrictions imposed by the government limit them. This makes them explore new ways to cope, thus relying on both Approach and Avoidant coping more than ever. This exploration of new ways to cope might not be successful for some students whose new ways to cope do not effectively relieve stress. Not being able to relieve stress might negatively affect students, such as becoming easily agitated, feeling overwhelmed, losing focus, and further distress. These effects may deplete their motivation, given that online and modular learning systems are new to them. Regardless of what the students mainly use to cope with stress, their use of the Facebook platform will be relative to their COVID-19-induced stress.

Limitations of the Study

This study has several limitations. First, the generalizability of the findings is a potential issue since the study relied on a simple random sampling within specific areas of the Philippines. This study had a modest sample size, thus, affecting the generalizability for the rest of the population. Likewise, the study did not use actual observations, which means explanations about the causality of the relationship are not possible. The students also have different views and experiences during the pandemic; thus, the way they interpret and view stress derived from COVID-19 also vary. One may have more resources and information compared to another and may view the experience as non-stressful. Additionally, the data gathering method using self-reports may not be enough to pinpoint the participants’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, their use of Facebook.

Future Directions

Other variables can be used in future studies to further explain the relationship between COVID-19 stress and Facebook use intensity with how coping strategies affect the said relationship. Future studies may also consider using types of coping, personality and intelligence factors as predictors or moderators. Future studies may use a mixed method of studying the relationship of Facebook use intensity and COVID-19 stress through qualitative and quantitative means and have a better understanding of the behaviors of college students during a pandemic. Future studies may focus on how students use Facebook qualitatively, to further examine the relationship of Facebook and social media use on the manner by which students manage stress.

Other social media platforms may also be utilised. Although Facebook remains to be the most used social media platform, other platforms such as Twitter and Instagram are also gaining significant traction to warrant an interest in examining how they are related to the experience of stress of students and other users.

Data Availability Statement

The authors confirms that all data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

Author Contribution

JKB- Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Project administration, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. PB- Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

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COVID-19 Stress, Facebook Use Intensity and coping strategies of Filipino students: An analysis of data collected during a pandemic

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Abstract

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Method

COVID Stress Scale

Facebook Use Intensity Scale

Brief-COPE Scale

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Statistical Analysis

Results

The relationship of COVID-19 Stress and Facebook use

The Moderating effect of Coping Strategies on the Relationship between Facebook use and COVID-19 Induced-stress

Discussion

Conclusion

Limitations of the Study

Future Directions

Declarations

Data Availability Statement

Author Contribution

References

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