The Reinforcement Effect of Social Media Likes in Depression

Is depressive psychopathology linked to differential reinforcement by a type of social reward, namely likes on social media?In this cross-sectional study using Twitter data, depression was significantly associated with an increased tendency for likes to reinforce posting frequency. This association replicated across 3 datasets with differing sample compositions and depression measures, and was robust to a range of controls.In this study, depressive psychopathology was associated with a greater tendency to be reinforced by rewards on social media, a behavioral pattern that might link poor mental health to social media use.

Corresponding Author: Dan-Mircea Mirea, PhD, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, 40 Woodlands Way, Princeton, NJ 08540 (dmirea@princeton.edu).

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