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European Psychiatry xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

European Psychiatry
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Original article

Internet use, Facebook intrusion, and depression: Results

of a cross-sectional study
A. Błachnio a,*, A. Przepio´ rka a, I. Pantic b
a
Institute of Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
b
Institute of Medical Physiology, University of Belgrade, School of Medicine, Visegradska 26/II, 11129 Belgrade, Serbia

ARTICLEINFO

Article history:
Received 3 February 2015
Received in revised form 9 April 2015
Accepted 11 April 2015
Available online xxx

Keywords:
Facebook intrusion
Facebook addiction
Depression
Social networking
sites Internet use
Psychology

1. Introduction number of participants – Facebook has an average of over

For the first time, the term ‘‘Internet addiction’’ was used as a
prediction in 1995 by Goldberg [14]. Nowadays, this problem
has become a reality [29,9,30]. Internet addiction is defined as a
loss of control over Internet use [30]. It can be understood in the
light of behavioral addiction criteria [26]. We can consider this
addiction not only in general terms but also in terms of one
aspect of the Internet, such as social networking sites [11,2],
cybersex [6,20], online shopping [19], or cyber gaming [32].
Addiction to social networking sites may be treated as a
subtype of Internet addiction [5]. Internet addiction seems to be
more general concept. To better understand behavioral addic-
tion connected with media use, it is justified to distinguish
between addiction to different types of Internet content (e-
gambling, one-line sex, or SNSs) rather than analyze addiction
to Internet in general [2]. Considering the increasing
* Corresponding author. +48 81 445 35 10.
E-mail address: gatta@kul.pl (A. Błachnio).
829 million daily active users [12] – and the increasing amount
of time spent using it [28], the problem is increasingly relevant
and should be more profoundly investigated.
In the literature, there is a term ‘‘Facebook intrusion,’’
coexisting with the term Facebook addiction. These terms cover
a similar subject area and can be used interchangeably, except
that in Facebook intrusion, the aspect of relations with others is
stressed more strongly. Facebook intrusion refers to the deep
engagement in Facebook and how it intrudes on daily life. It can
be defined as excessive involvement in Facebook, disrupting
day-to- day activities and interpersonal relationships [11]. The
authors mention three aspects of this phenomenon, namely
withdrawal, relapse and reinstatement, and euphoria. People who
are strongly involved in Facebook feel distress when they cannot
stop using it. What is more, they have unsuccessfully attempted
to reduce Facebook use. They also feel a connection with people
who use Facebook [11]. Previous studies have shown that
Facebook addiction is related to psychological variables [28].
For example, in a Turkish study, it was concluded that Facebook
addiction can be a mediator between subjective vitality and
subjective happiness

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2015.04.002
0924-9338/© 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Błachnio A, et al. Internet use, Facebook intrusion, and depression: Results of a cross-sectional
study. European Psychiatry (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2015.04.002
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2 A. Błachnio et al. / European Psychiatry xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

[31]. Facebook intrusion was also related to dissatisfaction with

relationships [11].
A large body of research reported in the literature shows that
Internet addiction often co-occurs with other disorders, such as
depression, loneliness, sexual dysfunction, or other addictions
[7,3,22]. There is no consensus on whether depression is an
effect or the cause of Internet addiction. Depression is
characterized by two symptoms: anhedonia and depressed mood.
Stress also plays a crucial role in the etiology of depression [4].
Negative comparison of oneself with others is connected with
depression symptoms [13]. Young and Rodgers [34] argue that a
depressive person, with low self-esteem, a fear of rejection, low
motivation, and a high need for acceptance by others, is more
likely to use the Internet dysfunctionally.
Koc and Gulyagci [17] showed that severe depression,
anxiety, and insomnia can be positive predictors of Facebook
addiction among Turkish students. In Taiwan, it was found that
self- inferiority and depressive character can be positive
predictors of Facebook addiction [24]. Moreover, a different
study conducted among Turkish hemodialysis patients indicated
that having a Facebook account was related to a lower level of
depression [1]. This can suggest that a Facebook account can
be helpful in coping with disease. On the other hand, some
studies yielded different results and found no relationship
between depression and social networking [24]. On the basis of
the literature, we assumed that Internet intrusion would be
related to depression and daily Internet use time in minutes.
The following hypotheses were posed:
● H1: variables such as gender, age, and time spent on Internet
activities are related to Facebook intrusion;
● H2: there is a statistically significant relationship between
depressive symptoms and Facebook intrusion.
2. Methods
2.1. Participants and procedure
The sample consisted of 672 individuals; 65% of the
participants were women. They were all native speakers of
Polish. The mean age of the participants was M = 27.53 years
(SD = 12.03 years; range: from 15 to 75 years). In the sample,
32% came from the countryside, 12.9% from small towns of up
to 20,000 inhabitants, 20.9% from medium-sized towns (20–99
thousand inhabitants), 19% from large towns (100–500 thousand
inhabitants), and 14.8% from cities of over 500,000 inhabitants.
The participants were Facebook users and they received no
remuneration. The snowball sampling procedure was used. The
link to the study was posted on Facebook and visitors were asked
to share it to the their profiles for friends.
and on a scale measuring phone involvement. It consists of eight
items (e.g., I have been unable to reduce my Facebook use)
measuring the relations between the tendency to Facebook
involvement and eight aspects of behavioral addiction, namely:
cognitive salience, behavioral salience, interpersonal conflict,
conflict with other activities, euphoria, loss of control,
withdrawal, as well as relapse and reinstatement. The items are
rated on a 7-point Likert scale
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). In the present
study, Cronbach’s a was 0.92.
The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-
D) [27,10] consists of 20 items measuring the level of depression
(e.g., I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing. I had a
crying spell). The participants are asked how often they have felt in
the described ways during the past week. They indicate their
responses on a 4-point scale: rarely or none of the time (less
than 1 day), some or a little of the time (1–2 days), occasionally or a
moderate amount of time (3–4 days), most or all of the time (5–
7 days). In the present study, Cronbach’s a was 0.89.
3. Results
The descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviations of
variables) for the total group are presented in Table 1. Additionally,
Pearson’s r correlations between variables were computed. Daily
Internet use time was found to be positively related to Facebook
intrusion (r = 0.242, P < 0.001). Facebook intrusion was positively
related to depression (r = 0.45, P ≤ 0.001). There was no relation
between daily Internet use time and depression (r = 0.08, P = 0.08).
Table 2 provides information on the results of regression analyses
for Facebook intrusion. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses
were performed to assess the impact of gender, age, daily Internet
use time in minutes, and depression on Facebook
intrusion.
In the first step, the demographic variables (gender and age)
were entered, followed in the second step by daily Internet use
time and in the third step by depression. The results indicated
that the demographic variables account for a statistically
significant proportion of the variance in Facebook intrusion,
R2 = 0.12, P < 0.000; F(6, 633) = 42.489. The entry of the
daily Internet use time variable at Step 2 resulted in a statistically
significant increment in the explained variance, R2 = 0.16, P <
0.000; F(1, 632) = 33.535. Also, the entry of the depression
variable in the next step increased the level of explained
variance, R2 = 0.31, P < 0.000;
F(1, 631) = 134.734. Gender and age were found to have significant
negative beta weights ( b = —0.08, P = 0.007 and b = —0.19,
P < 0.001, respectively), while daily Internet use time and
depression had significant positive beta weights ( b = 0.20,
P < 0.001 and b = —0.19, P < 0.001).

2.2. Instruments
4. Discussion
The participants completed two questionnaires and, addition-
The main aim of our study was to answer the question of
ally, they answered questions about their gender, age, and daily
whether depression and daily Internet use time was related to
Internet use time in minutes. The study was carried out between
Facebook intrusion. The results of this study show that
September and November 2014. We used the Polish versions of
depression is a predictor of Facebook intrusion. This result is
the measures. In both cases, the back translation procedure was
consistent with that of a previous study [18]. However, it
applied. Previous results obtained using the Polish version of
explores different relations that those described in other studies
these scales generally supported the validity of the questionnaires
[24].
(Blachnio and Przepiorka, unpublished data). All the variables
had normal distribution.
Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire, developed by Elphinston Table 1
and Noller [11], translated into Polish by Blachnio and Means and standard deviations of the variables (n = 672).

Przepiorka, (unpublished data), is based on behavioral addiction

components

Please cite this article in press as: Błachnio A, et al. Internet use, Facebook intrusion, and depression: Results of a cross-sectional
study. European Psychiatry (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2015.04.002
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M SD

1. Daily Internet use time in minutes 4.56 3.24

2. Facebook intrusion 2.74 1.44
3. Depression 3.60 1.77

Please cite this article in press as: Błachnio A, et al. Internet use, Facebook intrusion, and depression: Results of a cross-sectional
study. European Psychiatry (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2015.04.002
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A. Błachnio et al. / European Psychiatry xxx (2015) xxx–xxx 3

Table 2
Results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis of gender, daily Internet use
time, and depression on Facebook intrusion (n = 684).
results. Also, in the next study, more demographic variables
should be considered, such as education. Time spent on
Facebook has not been included in the study. However, it can
be assumed on the
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 basis of previous studies, such as [5], that it would be also
b b b positively related to Facebook intrusion. From the point of view of
Gender —0.10b —0.12b —0.08a practical advantages, it would also be advisable to focus on one
Age —0.30c —0.27c —0.19c
age group and to conduct a study that would clearly show the
relations
Daily Internet use 0.21c 0.20c
time in minutes for a particular developmental stage, for example, adolescence or
Depression 0.40c or might not have revealed the truth. We did not control other
R2 0.12 0.16 0.31
variables that may confound this relationship, such as life events
R2 change 0.12c 0.04c 0.15c
that can mediate between Internet addiction and depression, as has
a
P < 0.05. b
been outlined in other studies [33]. The participants in our study
P < 0.01. c
were a convenience sample, which limits the generalizability of
P < 0.001.
the

The current study provides additional evidence that daily

Internet use time in minutes, gender, and age are also predictors
of Facebook intrusion: that Facebook intrusion can be predicted
by being male, young age, and an extensive number of minutes
spent
online. Similarly, C¸am and I˙ s¸ bulan [8] indicate that men are
more
often addicted to Facebook. Hong et al. [15] claim that heavy
Facebook users are exposed to the risk of Facebook addiction.
During the past several years, several authors have associated
the Internet and social networking use with various mental health
issues, such as depression, low self-esteem, and narcissism
[16,23,21]. Since these connections have only recently been
established, the available research data is very limited and, at
present, numerous expert groups are trying to confirm the
potential detrimental effects of Internet activities on
psychological mental well-being.
Pantic et al. [25] described a statistically significant
relationship between the time spent on social networking
platforms and depressive symptoms in high-school students. The
potential of social networking sites (SNSs) to induce and
aggravate dysthymic mood could be explained with the fact that
such online behaviors may lead to false conclusions about other
users’ physical, social, moral, and other qualities. For example,
an average SNS user may constantly compare his/her life
achievements with those of others based on viewing their online
profiles, which often present false or exaggerated data.
Some authors [21] have associated certain Internet-related
activities with low self-esteem and increased narcissism of the
online user. Low self-esteem will naturally lead to the
augmenta- tion of depression levels even in an otherwise
mentally healthy individual. Furthermore, some specific SNS-
related activities such as the posting of self-portrait
photographs (selfies) on one’s profile have been associated
with narcissism and depression, although the nature of this
connection is still unclear.

5. Limitations and future research

A limitation of the present study may be its use of self-report

methods. In future research also, other method should be used.
On the other hand, using different methods in the case of
Facebook use is very difficult due to the privacy settings of
Facebook accounts: we do not have access to users’ full activity.
The next possible limitation of the present study pertains to the
measure of the amount of time spent on Facebook. It was based
on the declaration of the users, which might have been distorted

Please cite this article in press as: Błachnio A, et al. Internet use, Facebook intrusion, and depression: Results of a cross-sectional
study. European Psychiatry (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2015.04.002
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young adulthood. More research is also needed to provide a

better
understanding of the role of depression in the emergence of
Facebook addiction.

6. Conclusion

Facebook addiction has become a reality; with the

increasing number of Facebook users and with the extended
amount of usage time, this negative phenomenon may spread
even more rapidly. Therefore, in order to prevent this, more
studies should be done to examine the possible symptoms
occurring as the first signs of the problem. On the basis of this
study, it is possible to conclude that there are certain
demographic and personal variables – such as age, gender, or
time spent online – that may help in outlining the profile of a
user who may be in danger of becoming addicted to Facebook
and depression. This piece of knowledge may serve prevention
purposes.

Disclosure of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest

concerning this article.

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