The Bidirectional Relationships between Social Pressure in Digital Contexts, Depression, and Social Support over Time

Objective: As societies become increasingly digitalized, users engage in digital communication flows and participate actively and responsively while managing the demands of constant connectivity. This overwhelming volume of communication can lead to social pressure, which has been associated with compulsive digital behavior and may negatively affect psychological and social adjustment. This study aimed at investigating the longitudinal and bidirectional relationships between social pressure in digital contexts, depressive symptoms, and social support, focusing on how social pressure may affect psychological and social adjustment over time. Method: Previous research on social pressure has mostly relied on cross-sectional or, at best, two-panel cross-lagged designs. In this study, random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) were used and a three-wave longitudinal design to examine bidirectional relationships between social pressure, depressive symptoms, and social support in a sample of 1,878 participants that were representative of the Spanish internet population. Results: Our results indicated that increases in social pressure were associated with elevated depressive symptoms and diminished social support over time. Conversely, increases in depressive symptoms and decreases in social support were not associated with changes in social pressure over time. Conclusions: While social pressure in digital contexts had adverse effects on the psychological and social adjustment of users over time (i.e., high depressive symptoms and low social support), it remained unresponsive to variations in users' adjustment over time. These findings underscore the importance of considering the contextual nature of social pressure in digital environments to better inform policy interventions aimed at improving users' digital well-being.