Social media use and positive aspects of caregiving: a longitudinal test of the social compensation hypothesis
Mingyang Yang, Fan Yang, Shaowei Liu, Junyao Zheng, Wenjie Li, Yiyan Zhou, Shihan Lu, Sicheng Zhong, Xiaobo Ke, Vivian W Q LouAbstract
Objectives
Guided by the social compensation hypothesis, this study examined longitudinal pathways linking multidimensional social media use (SMU) to positive aspects of caregiving (PAC) among family caregivers of people with dementia. Specifically, we tested whether perceived social support (PSS) mediates the association between SMU and PAC and whether offline social network size moderates the SMU-PSS pathway.
Methods
A three-wave time-lagged panel design was conducted over six months. Data were collected from a final analytic sample of 417 family caregivers in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Path analysis within a Structural Equation Modeling framework tested a moderated mediation model in which T1 SMU predicted T3 PAC indirectly via T2 PSS, conditional on T1 offline social network size.
Results
T1 SMU significantly predicted T3 PAC (B = 0.141, p <0.001), with a significant indirect effect through T2 PSS (B = 0.019, p = 0.027), indicating partial mediation. Offline social network size negatively moderated the SMU-PSS association (B = −0.030, p <0.01). Simple slope analyses showed that the SMU-PSS relationship was significant among caregivers with smaller offline networks but non-significant among those with larger networks.
Discussion
Findings support a compensatory function of SMU: online engagement may enhance positive caregiving experiences partly by strengthening PSS, particularly for caregivers with limited offline social resources. These results inform the development of targeted digital support strategies tailored to caregivers’ baseline social networks.