Bipolar Disorder: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Is There Any Difference between Bipolar and Non-bipolar Individuals in the Use of Facebook?

Joao Paulo Rodrigues do Nascimento, Lourrany Borges Costa, Renata Leal Meneses, Lucas Monte da Costa Moreno and Fabio Gomes de Matos e Souza

Objective: To access how individuals with and without bipolar disorder differ in the use of Facebook, using the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) as a screening instrument for Bipolar Disorder (BD). The bipolar spectrum group will be analyzed in another paper.

Method: One questionnaire containing 54 questions about social and demographic variables, aspects of Facebook usage and the MDQ was applied. The sample consisted of 672 Facebook users. Participants were classified into three groups: 1 – individuals with BD (n=73); 2 –individuals without BD (n=402); 3 - bipolar spectrum (subjects whose scores were not enough to fulfill the complete criteria for BD) (n=197). Data analysis was performed using the chi-square test (χ²) among the three groups. When this result was statistically significant, pairwise comparisons were performed using ANOVA (with Sheffé correction) tests. Bonferroni test was used to reduce type I error of multiple comparisons. This paper present differences between individuals with without BD.

Results: Individuals with BD presented higher percentage than individuals without BD in the following aspects related to the use of Facebook: a) the amount of friends (more than 1,000 friends: 1=20.5%; 2=10.0%); b) the number of people excluded (excluded more than 30 friends: 1=24.7%; 2=14.4%) or blocked from their contacts (blocked more than 30: 1=5.5%; 2=1.7%); c) increased privacy exposure online (excessive exposure on the internet: 1=6.8%; 2=3.2%); d) problems in private life (1=52.1%; 2=19.4%); e) influences of emotional status on online behavior (1=65.8%; 2=41.5%); f) use when worried/anxious (1=49.3%; 2=29,4%).

Conclusions: Individuals with BD are more sensitive, excluding and blocking more frequently and use the internet more often when they are more emotional.