OBJECTIVES

Facebook is getting rapid popularity among adolescents in Bangladesh over other Social Networking Websites. Excessive engagement with and dependence in Facebook as a medium of social communication is becoming matter of concern nowadays to the parents. Excessive use of Facebook compels the adolescents to suffer from depressive illness, which is increasing day by day in Bangladesh. This study was conducted to find out the association between Facebook addiction and depression among adolescents.

METHODS

The cross-sectional study was conducted among 376 adolescents (13-19 years) students of secondary and higher secondary level in Dhaka city. Data were collected using a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was performed by SPSS statistical software.

RESULTS

This study revealed that, 81.1% of adolescents used Facebook. Among them majority (49.8%) showed mild, followed by moderate (41.0%) and severe (1.6%) Facebook addiction and only 7.6% were natural users. Females (94%) were more addicted to Facebook than males (83%). Among all, 36.2 % adolescents were mild to severely depressed and 63.8% were non-depressed. Among the depressed students, 15.4% had mild, 9.6% moderate and 11.2% had severe depression. Duration of Facebook use, daily use of Facebook, and number of Facebook friends are significantly associated with level of depression in bivariate analysis. Multivariate model showed that students addicted in Facebook are five times more likely to get depressed (OR= 5.11, 95% CI= 1.42-18.34), controlling for other characteristics constant. Students who have Facebook friends more than 1000 are three times more likely to have depression (OR= 3.02, 95% CI= 1.01-9.30).

CONCLUSIONS

The study found significant association between Facebook addiction and depression among adolescent students. This study suggests that the stake holders and policy makers should investigate this association thoroughly and take appropriate measures to restore adolescent mental health by reducing Facebook addiction and depression among adolescents.