Facebook Use Among Adolescents in Serbia – epidemiological study

Abstract

Background and aim:Facebook (FB) is a non-separable part of the adolescents social life. Among other things, it contributes to a better information exchange of various contents, and it is used for communication. However, recent studies show that, the leading social network might potentially present itself as an emerging mental health problem. A significant percentage of FB users are adolescents. Thus, the researches examining habits and behavior of the youth on FB are necessary. The aim of our research was to show how adolescents in Serbia use FB, how much time they spend on FB, as well as, what are gender differences connected with this issue. Methods: The final sample included 2113 adolescents (56% girls) with mean age of 16.73. The study obtained the approval of the Ethical committee and all subjects signed for informed consent. The research was conducted in 48 high schools. We used the questionnaire which in the first part had the questions about the basic socidemographics characteristics, and in the second part the questions related to the FB use.Results: Only 3.6 % of adolescent do not have FB. In average, they spend 4.09 ± 4.92 hours on FB. Girls statistically significant spend more time on FB than boys. Girls in a statistically significant higher percentage chat on FB (chi = 10.59, p<0.05), share various contents (chi =17.47, p<0.05) and write posts (chi =4.11, p<0.05). Boys in a statistically significant higher percentage play games on FB (chi =15.59, p<0.05). Conclusions: Our results show that adolescents spend worryingly more time on FB. The next step in a further research, is to examine the connection between the time spent on FB and various FB use on one side and the possibility of the developing of a mental health problem, on the other side.