Facebook; changing more than just statuses? A Study investigating relationships between Facebook use and levels of self-esteem and loneliness.

he aim of this study was to investigate if there is a relationship between Facebook use (time spent on Facebook and amount of Facebook friends) and both self-esteem and loneliness levels. This was carried out using a cross sectional field based quantitative design. Participants in this study included 112 college students (Males: N = 23, Females: N = 89) and were recruited online via Facebook. Participants were required to complete the Rosenberg Self-esteem scale to measure self-esteem levels and the UCLA Loneliness scale to measure loneliness levels. On top of this participants were required to answer questions regarding age, gender and Facebook usage. It was found that there was no significant relationship between 1) Time spent on Facebook and self-esteem levels. 2) The amount of Friends on Facebook and self-esteem levels. 3) Time spent on Facebook and loneliness levels. 4) The amount of Facebook friends and loneliness levels. There was however a significant relationship found between self-esteem and loneliness levels in females