Depression as a Predictor of Facebook Surveillance and Envy

Abstract. Prior research has shown an association between Facebook users’ likelihood of engaging in social surveillance (i.e., browsing through friends’ postings without directly interacting with them), their experience of envy, and their depressive symptoms. Yet the directionality and duration of this effect are unclear. Drawing on the stress generation hypothesis, we postulate that depression increases Facebook surveillance and envy, which may increase depression over time. Using a cross-lagged longitudinal design with two waves spaced 1 year apart, we find that, as expected, depression was associated with more Facebook surveillance and more envy, both initially and 1 year later. However, neither Facebook surveillance nor envy at Time 1 increased depression at Time 2. Instead, depression predicted envy, and envy predicted Facebook surveillance over time. The results show the utility of the stress generation hypothesis in a social media context and have implications for Facebook users’ psychological well-being.