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Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Analysis of institutional authors

Urueña, AlbertoAuthor

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August 14, 2025
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The Bidirectional Relationships between Social Pressure in Digital Contexts, Depression, and Social Support over Time

Publicated to: Psychosocial Intervention. 34 (3): 189-200 - 2025-09-01 34(3), DOI: 10.5093/pi2025a15

Authors:

Erdem, HD; Herrero, J; Urueña, A
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Affiliations

Univ Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Madrid, Spain - Author

Abstract

Objective: As societies become increasingly digitalized, users engage in digital communication flows and participate actively and responsively while managing the demands of constant connectivity. This overwhelming volume of communication can lead to social pressure, which has been associated with compulsive digital behavior and may negatively affect psychological and social adjustment. This study aimed at investigating the longitudinal and bidirectional relationships between social pressure in digital contexts, depressive symptoms, and social support, focusing on how social pressure may affect psychological and social adjustment over time. Method: Previous research on social pressure has mostly relied on cross-sectional or, at best, two-panel cross-lagged designs. In this study, random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) were used and a three-wave longitudinal design to examine bidirectional relationships between social pressure, depressive symptoms, and social support in a sample of 1,878 participants that were representative of the Spanish internet population. Results: Our results indicated that increases in social pressure were associated with elevated depressive symptoms and diminished social support over time. Conversely, increases in depressive symptoms and decreases in social support were not associated with changes in social pressure over time. Conclusions: While social pressure in digital contexts had adverse effects on the psychological and social adjustment of users over time (i.e., high depressive symptoms and low social support), it remained unresponsive to variations in users' adjustment over time. These findings underscore the importance of considering the contextual nature of social pressure in digital environments to better inform policy interventions aimed at improving users' digital well-being.
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Keywords

AdolescentAdultAssociationDepressionDepressive symptomsEntrapmentFemaleHumansInternetInternet useLongitudinal panel designLongitudinal studiesMaleMedia useMiddle agedNationally representative samplNationally representative sampleOnlinReduced inequalitiesSatisfactionSmartphone addictionSocial adjustmentSocial pressureSocial supportSpainStressYoung adult

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Psychosocial Intervention due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 22/223, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Psychology, Multidisciplinary. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-24:

  • WoS: 1
  • Scopus: 4
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-24:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 14.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 14 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 1.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Additionally, the work has been submitted to a journal classified as Diamond in relation to this type of editorial policy.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/92002/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 63
  • Downloads: 9
Continuing with the social impact of the work, it is important to emphasize that, due to its content, it can be assigned to the area of interest of ODS 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries, with a probability of 70% according to the mBERT algorithm developed by Aurora University.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (URUEÑA LOPEZ, ALBERTO).

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Project objectives

Los objetivos perseguidos en esta aportación se centran en profundizar en las relaciones entre presión social en contextos digitales, síntomas depresivos y apoyo social a lo largo del tiempo. Se pretende analizar las relaciones bidireccionales y longitudinales entre estas variables mediante un diseño de tres olas y modelos RI-CLPM. Se busca evaluar cómo la presión social en entornos digitales afecta el ajuste psicológico y social de los usuarios. Además, se pretende determinar si los cambios en síntomas depresivos y apoyo social influyen en la presión social digital. Finalmente, se aspira a caracterizar la naturaleza contextual de la presión social para informar intervenciones de política orientadas a mejorar el bienestar digital.
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Most relevant results

El estudio examinó las relaciones bidireccionales longitudinales entre la presión social en contextos digitales, los síntomas depresivos y el apoyo social en una muestra representativa de 1,878 usuarios de internet en España. Los resultados más relevantes fueron: (1) un aumento en la presión social digital se asoció con un incremento en los síntomas depresivos a lo largo del tiempo; (2) la presión social también se relacionó con una disminución del apoyo social en el mismo periodo; (3) los incrementos en síntomas depresivos y las reducciones en apoyo social no predijeron cambios en la presión social digital; (4) se utilizó un diseño longitudinal de tres olas con modelos RI-CLPM para analizar estas relaciones.
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Awards linked to the item

This research was supported by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption, and Agenda 2030; the General Directorate of Gambling Regulation (SUBV23/00003); La Caixa Conecta 2023 Research Grants (CX23-00034); the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, PID2024-161573NB-I00); and the Severo Ochoa Program of the Principality of Asturias (Spain) (AYUD0029T01).
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