A Study on Social Media and Substance Abuse as Coping Mechanisms in Indian College Students

ABSTRACT

Background: Increasing perceived stress directs college students to resort to a variety of copingmechanisms. Among the popular strategies, many college students are reaching out to social media, whilemany take to substance abuse. Like two sides of a coin, substance abuse and social media are used for bothnegative and positive purposes. The present study is designed to explore which coping mechanism -substance abuse or social media, do young adults employ to cope with their stress and the effectiveness ofthat mechanism.Methods: A sample of 167 male and female college students is selected. Data is collected through a selfdesigned questionnaire and Index of Clinical Stress (Abell, 1991). Descriptive statistics, student’s t-test andANOVA is employed to analyse the data.Results: Results indicate no significant differences in the perceived stress experienced by students who usesocial media, substance abuse and both as coping mechanisms. More students using social media ascoping measure reported a decrease in their stress. Also, students who perceived social support reportedthe least stress experienced. Dissatisfaction with their choice of coping measure also reported higher stressin the students. Almost half the sample reported that they would recommend neither social media norsubstance abuse as coping mechanisms.Conclusion:The results guide towards numerous future research ideas, as none of the two copingmechanisms seem to relieve stress in young adolescents and they do not qualify to be recommended. Theimportance of social support and satisfaction with one’s own choices is reiterated.