Association of social participation, perception of neighborhood social cohesion, and social media use with happiness: Evidence of trade‐off (JCOP‐20‐277)

Social participation and neighborhood social cohesion are positively associated with health and wellbeing. Given that in‐person social interactions have generally dwindled over the past several decades at least in Western countries and social media use has become more common, in this study, we examined whether and how social media use interacts with social participation and neighborhood social cohesion in influencing happiness. Data were gathered from a representative sample of adults in Massachusetts, USA. General linear model was used to estimate the main and interaction effects of social participation, perception of neighborhood social cohesion and social media use on happiness, controlling for sociodemographics, marital status, employment, and self‐rated health. Results indicated that both social participation and perception of neighborhood social cohesion were positively associated with happiness whereas social media use was not. However, there was a significant interaction effect of social media use and perception of neighborhood social cohesion on happiness. Compared with people with a high perception of neighborhood social cohesion, those with low perception were more likely to be happy as their social media use increased, suggesting that social media use may be helpful to promote happiness among people who perceive their neighborhoods as less supportive, trustworthy, and close‐knit.