Department of Biology, Regis University, Denver, Colorado 80221, USA.
Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2012 Dec;15(12):675-81. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2012.0156. Epub 2012 Sep 28.
Having a large social network is generally beneficial to health. However, it is unclear how Internet-based social networks might influence health. Chronic stress can have negative health consequences, and some data suggest that Facebook could be a new source of psychological stress. Thus, we examined undergraduate college student perceptions of Facebook use and incidence of upper respiratory infections (URIs). We hypothesized that subjects with more diverse networks (i.e., more friends on Facebook) would have fewer URIs than their less diverse counterparts; that subjects reporting Facebook-induced stress would be more susceptible to URIs; and that subjects with more diverse networks who report Facebook-induced stress would be less susceptible to URIs than subjects with less diverse social networks who reported Facebook-induced stress. In this prospective study, healthy college students completed online questionnaires that assessed use and perceptions of Facebook and technology, and then were interviewed weekly for 10 weeks to track incidence of URI. URI episodes were defined by a symptom-based criterion. The social network size was significantly related to the rate of URI, such that, the larger the social network, the greater the incidence rate of URI. Most (85.7 percent) respondents experienced some degree of Facebook-induced stress. The effects of Facebook-induced stress on incidence of URI varied across the social network size, such that, the impact of stress on the URI incidence rate increased with the size of the social network. These results are largely in contrast to our hypotheses, but clearly suggest an association between Facebook use, psychological stress, and health.
拥有庞大的社交网络通常对健康有益。然而，目前尚不清楚基于互联网的社交网络如何影响健康。慢性压力会对健康产生负面影响，一些数据表明 Facebook 可能是新的心理压力源。因此，我们研究了大学生对 Facebook 使用和上呼吸道感染 (URIs) 的看法。我们假设，网络更加多样化的（即 Facebook 上有更多朋友）的人比社交网络不那么多样化的人患 URIs 的次数更少；报告 Facebook 引起的压力的人更容易患 URIs；与报告 Facebook 引起的压力的社交网络较不多样化的人相比，报告 Facebook 引起的压力的社交网络多样化的人患 URIs 的可能性较小。在这项前瞻性研究中，健康的大学生完成了在线问卷，评估了他们对 Facebook 和技术的使用和看法，然后每周接受一次为期 10 周的采访，以跟踪 URIs 的发病情况。URIs 发作的定义是基于症状的标准。社交网络的规模与 URIs 的发生率显著相关，即社交网络越大，URIs 的发病率越高。大多数（85.7%）受访者经历了某种程度的 Facebook 引起的压力。Facebook 引起的压力对 URIs 发生率的影响因社交网络规模而异，社交网络规模越大，压力对 URIs 发生率的影响越大。这些结果与我们的假设基本相反，但清楚地表明了 Facebook 使用、心理压力和健康之间的关联。
