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Updated: Sep 5, 2025

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
#socialdistancing: Social Media Use and Online Social Support Moderate the Effect of Pandemic-Related Stress on
Madison Politte-Corn1, Elizabeth A Nick2, Lindsay Dickey1
1Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Nashville, TN.
Introduction:
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major stressors, increases in internalizing symptomatology, and greater reliance on online interactions. We examined associations between social media use, online social support, pandemic-related stress, and internalizing symptoms, and tested the moderating role of social media use on the relation between stress and symptom change across time.
Methods:
Emerging adults aged 18-25 (N=200) self-reported pandemic-related stress, internalizing symptoms, social media use, and online social support in May 2020, then repeated measures of internalizing symptoms in August 2020.
Results:
Greater social media use was cross-sectionally associated with greater stress and anxiety symptoms. High social media use in conjunction with high interpersonal stress was predictive of increases in depression, whereas low online social support and high total stress was predictive of increases in anxiety.
Discussion:
Findings suggest that general social media usage and online social support are differentially related to internalizing symptom change among emerging adults.
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