Perception, mental health, and social media exposure on adolescents in Indonesia during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Context: Many adolescents exposed to social media information during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) appeared in Indonesia, especially in Central Java. Aims: To assess adolescent perceptions of COVID-19 and the prevalence of mental health problems and examine their relationship with social media exposure. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design in adolescents aged between 10-24 years in Central Java province and was conducted from May to June 2020. The snowball sampling technique was used to distribute questionnaires online via WhatsApp. The estimated number of samples who filled out the questionnaire was 1357 respondents. The instruments used in this study were WHO-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), and a questionnaire developed by researchers using the theoretical framework approach Health Belief Model. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the relationship between social media exposure with mental health problems and adolescent perceptions after controlling for covariates. Results: From the results of the study obtained data that were associated with social media exposure in adolescents in Central Java during the pandemic as age (p = 0.0001), education (p = 0.025), and health conditions (p = 0.016). Then social media exposure in adolescents during a pandemic affected perception (p = 0.0001) and stress (p = 0.005) but did not affect depression (p = 0.108). Conclusions: The findings indicated that social media exposure had a significant effect on perception and stress levels. Adolescents who had higher exposure to social media during the pandemic experienced changes in their perception and reported higher levels of stress. However, the study did not find a significant association between social media exposure and depression among adolescents during the pandemic. This suggests that while social media exposure may influence perception and stress, it may not have a direct impact on depression.