The relationship between social supports with the use of social networks among university students

The current era is the era of networks. An era, in which many new ways are introduced to the vast field of social communications by formation of various online social networks. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between perceived social support and usage of social networks in the students of Qazvin University. The research samples, consisting of 210 students in academic year 2015-2016, were selected by Multistage Random Cluster Sampling. The research tools consisted of Multi-Faceted Social Support Scale and Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. Data analysis with Pearson Correlation Coefficient, Multivariate Regression Analysis showed that there is a significant negative relationship between the usage of social networks and the total score of perceived social support as well as social support from family and friends (P < 0.01). There is no significant correlation between consumption of social networks and perceived social support from friends (P > 0.01); however, the results from Stepwise Regression showed that social support can explain well the variance of the use of social networks (t=-3.190, B=-0.0216); i.e. %4/7of the variance related to the consumption of social networks was explained by the social support from friends factor.