(PS12-67) Examining Trait and Momentary Associations Between Perseverative Thinking and Different Types of Social Media Use

How social media use (SMU) has been associated with well-being has largely focused on depression and its correlates (i.e., rumination) and on social comparison via SMU. Rumination, however, is part of a broader construct, perseverative thinking (PT), which is not tied to one diagnostic category. Examining how SMU is related to PT may have broader clinical implications. PT is often characterized by its core features of negative repetitive thought, difficulty concentrating (i.e., mental capacity), and beliefs about PT’s unproductiveness. We examined how these facets of trait PT (Aim 1) and momentary PT (Aim 2) are linked with SMU types, focusing on comparison-based (e.g., body comparison), belief-based (e.g., sharing negative opinions), image-based (e.g., monitoring likes) and consumption-based (e.g., watching videos) use. Because PT relates to dwelling on negative content, we hypothesized PT core characteristics would be related to more belief-, comparison-, and image-based SMU; because scrolling is often thought to be fruitless and distracting, we predicted capturing mental capacity and unproductiveness PT subscales would be positively linked with consumption-based SMU. Further, we expected momentary PT assessed via worry would be associated with more belief-, image- and comparison-based SMU.

Participants (N=179; M_age=35.7) completed 14 days of experience sampling, and were surveyed five times a day about how worried they felt and how frequently they used each SMU type in the past hour. They completed the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire and Social Media Use Scale. 

Analyses used multivariate regression (Aim 1) and multilevel modeling (Aim 2). Core characteristics of PT was related to more weekly comparison-based SMU (β=.37, p< .001), as expected, but less image-based SMU (β=-.22, p=.028) and was not associated with belief-based SMU (β=.10, p=.260), inconsistent with hypotheses. Unproductiveness of PT was associated with more comparison-based SMU (β=.37, p< .001) and less image-based SMU (β=-.24, p=.020), contrary to expectations, and was not associated with belief-based SMU (β=.12, p=.207). Momentary worry was associated with more comparison-based (β=.04, p=.038) and belief-based (β=.08, p< .001) SMU, as expected, but was not associated with image-based SMU (β=.02, p=.187). Mental capacity of PT did not relate to SMU types, and no measures of PT were linked with consumption-based SMU. 

It is notable that PT core characteristics was linked with more SMU to monitor one’s social image (image-based), and less towards social comparison (comparison-based). Similarly, belief about PT’s unproductiveness was linked with less image- and more comparison-based SMU. At a trait level, image-based SMU may represent a more adaptive form of SMU, whereas comparison-based SMU may represent a more maladaptive form of SMU. Momentary worry was linked with more comparison- and belief-based SMU, but not image-based use, showing that in the moment, image-based SMU may not reduce worry, but SMU to reinforce negative beliefs may increase worry. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing links between distinct types of SMU at different timescales and with a broader range of psychological outcomes to inform SMU recommendations.