“If I was to post something, it would be too vulnerable:” University students and mental health disclosures on instagram

Abstract

Objective

Assess Instagram use for mental health disclosure in university students to assess the potential for Instagram use as mental health support-seeking.

Participants

Twenty-one students using mental health services while attending a private, Mid-Atlantic university between 6/2017-12/2017.

Methods

Collected qualitative interview and Instagram data and analyzed them in parallel. Instagram data supplemented interview themes and were coded and analyzed quantitatively to define features of participants’ Instagram use.

Results

Participants displayed aversions to posting mental health disclosures on Instagram, citing public and self-stigma as barriers to disclosure. Despite this, participants reported instances in which their Instagram posts directly or indirectly reflected their lived experiences. Some also maintained second anonymous accounts for fuller disclosure.

Conclusions

Given the benefits of mental health disclosures to well-being and the predilection for social media use in university students, student and university-led initiatives to promote social media environments conducive to disclosures could have widespread mental health benefits.

Keywords:

• Instagram
• social media
• social support
• undergraduate and graduate students
• young adult health

Acknowledgments

Incentives provided by Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health dissertation funding scholarship. Thank you to Dr. Paul Furtaw for facilitating study recruitment.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Drexel University.

Funding

Incentives provided by Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health dissertation funding scholarship.