Prevalence of Facebook addiction and its association with personality traits and psychological distress- a study from north east part of India

Introduction: Networking sites have become a part and parcel of many youngsters’ daily activity and it is observed that many of these youngsters are facing the risk of addiction to social networking sites (SNSs) which have been highlighted in several studies. It is observed in India that the use of Facebook is enormous, especially among the school and college students. However, little is known about the association of Facebook addiction with mental health issues and personality traits. Methods: This study therefore surveyed the level of Facebook addiction and its relationship with psychological distress and personality traits among college students in Shillong, Meghalaya. Purposive sampling was used to select 559 students from two colleges in Shillong, data was generated with Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). Results: The finding showed that the prevalence of Facebook Addiction was 5%, depression, anxiety and stress were significantly associated with Facebook addiction, addicted group had higher level of mental health issues than the non-addicted group and regression analysis showed that personality traits and DASS (depression, anxiety and stress) contributed significantly to the prediction of overall Facebook addiction score of college students (F=10.258, P<.001) accounting for 10 percent variance. Conclusion: The use of social networking site among college going students can impact the mental health of the users. The study therefore suggests that Facebook addiction is highly associated with mental health issues and hence further longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the impact of Facebook Addiction on mental health.