A Comparative Study of the Effects of Social Media Use on Students’ Mental at the National Sports University, Lampang Campus

Abstract

This research aimed to: 1) examine the levels of social media usage behavior, the impacts of social media use, and mental health indicators among students of Thailand National Sports University, Lampang Campus, classified by faculty and year of study; 2) compare the mean differences in social media usage behavior, the impacts of social media use, and mental health indicators among students classified by faculty; 3) compare the mean differences in these variables classified by year of study; and 4) analyze the interaction effects of faculty and year of study on social media usage behavior, the impacts of social media use, and mental health indicators.

The research results revealed that: (1) students exhibited a high level of social media usage behavior, experienced a moderate level of impact from social media use, and had a normal level of mental health; (2) the comparative analysis classified by faculty showed that social media usage behavior, impacts of social media use, and the mental health index were not significantly different at the .05 level; (3) the comparative analysis classified by year of study indicated that social media usage behavior was not significantly different at the .05 level, whereas the impacts of social media use were significantly different at the .01 level. Pairwise comparisons revealed that third-year students had mean scores significantly different from those of first-year and second-year students at the .01 level; and      (4) the interaction between social media usage behavior and the impacts of social media use, classified by faculty, did not significantly affect mental health at the .05 level, whereas the interaction classified by year of study significantly affected mental health at the .05 level.