Ethnic Discrimination in Social Media and Depressive Symptoms Among Hispanic Emerging Adult College Students: Examining the Moderating Roles of Emotion Self-Efficacy and Locus of Control

Abstract

With the rise of social media and the potential for ethnic discrimination on these platforms, this study examined the relationship between depressive symptoms, social media discrimination, ‘powerful others,’ and emotional self-efficacy with a convenience sample of 628 Hispanic emerging adult college students from Florida (n = 401) and Texas (n = 227). Results from a hierarchical multiple regression model indicate that higher social media discrimination is associated with greater depressive symptoms. Moderation analyses revealed that higher emotional self-efficacy and perception of ‘powerful others’ strengthened the association between social media discrimination and depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of considering individual and contextual factors when examining mental health disparities in this population, suggesting that tailored interventions may benefit from addressing the complex interplay between social media discrimination and emotion regulation.