Roles of Psychosocial Factors on the Association Between Online Social Networking Use Intensity and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents: Prospective Cohort Study.

Ji-Bin Li,Li-Fen Feng,Phoenix K H Mo,Yu-Xia Chen,Joseph T F Lau,Jin-Chen Mai,Anise M S Wu

doi:10.2196/21316

Abstract

BackgroundThe potential mechanisms underlying the association between online social networking use intensity and depressive symptoms are unclear and underresearched.ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the potential roles of interpersonal psychosocial factors on the association between online social networking use intensity and depressive symptoms among early adolescents.MethodsA total of 4237 adolescents from a 9-month longitudinal study were included. Score changes (indicated as △) for the social function use intensity (SFUI) and entertainment function use intensity (EFUI) subscales of the Online Social Networking Activity Intensity Scale and for friendship quality, perceived family support, perceived friend support, parent–adolescent conflict, social nonconfidence, and depressive symptoms were analyzed. The potential mediation effects of unfavorable psychosocial factors and suppression effects of favorable psychosocial factors on the association of △SFUI with △CES-D and the association of △EFUI with △CES-D were tested using hierarchical regression models.ResultsThe association between △SFUI and △CES-D was partially mediated by △mother–adolescent conflict (mediation effect size 5.11%, P=.02) and △social nonconfidence (mediation effect size 20.97%, P<.001) but partially suppressed by △friendship quality, △perceived family support, and △perceived friend support, with suppression effects of –0.011 (P=.003), –0.009 (P=.003), and –0.022 (P<.001), respectively. The association between △EFUI and △CES-D was partially mediated by △social nonconfidence (mediation effect size 30.65%, P<.001) but partially suppressed by △perceived family support and △perceived friend support, with suppression effects of –0.036 (P<.001) and –0.039 (P<.001), respectively.ConclusionsThe association between online social networking use intensity and depressive symptoms was partially mediated through the indirect increase in social nonconfidence and mother–adolescent conflict; however, better perceived social support and friendship quality would partially compensate for the harmful impact of online social networking use intensity on depressive symptoms among early adolescents.

Highlights

Adolescent depression is a global challenge that is significantly associated with serious physical and psychological problems [1,2,3,4]
The association between online social networking use intensity and depressive symptoms was partially mediated through the indirect increase in social nonconfidence and mother–adolescent conflict; better perceived social support and friendship quality would partially compensate for the harmful impact of online social networking use intensity on depressive symptoms among early adolescents
Given that adolescents use online social networking mainly for social purposes [14,15,16], we investigated whether favorable and unfavorable interpersonal attributes would mediate or suppress the association between online social networking use intensity measures and depressive symptoms in early adolescence, by using a prospective cohort study design [17,18,19]

Summary

Introduction

Adolescent depression is a global challenge that is significantly associated with serious physical and psychological problems (eg, substance use, eating disorder, and suicide) [1,2,3,4]. The intensity of online social networking use is positively associated with depressive symptoms among adolescents in several cross-sectional studies [11,12,13], and while it is necessary to have an understanding of the mechanisms underlying the association to address prevention and intervention, such an understanding is lacking. As cross-sectional studies are unable to establish temporal relationships, they cannot be used to investigate potential underlying mechanisms of the relationships between online social networking use intensity and depressive symptoms. The potential mechanisms underlying the association between online social networking use intensity and depressive symptoms are unclear and underresearched. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Chinese version of the 20-item Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Scale (CES-D), which is an epidemiological screening tool, not a clinical diagnosis tool. The Cronbach α was 0.86 at baseline and 0.87 at follow-up, indicating good internal reliability in this study

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion