Adolescent Social Media Research Articles

Prevalence and Patterns of Social Media Use in Early Adolescents.

To describe patterns of social media use, including underage (under 13 years) use and sex differences, in a diverse, national sample of early adolescents in the U.S. We analyzed the social media use data in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (2019-2021, Year 3), which includes a national sample of early adolescents in the U.S. Specifically, using chi-squared and t-tests, we compared social media use patterns across demographic characteristics stratified by age and sex. In the sample of 10,092 11-to-15-year-old adolescents, 69.5% had at least one social media account; among social media users, the most common platforms were TikTok (67.1%), YouTube (64.7%), and Instagram (66.0%). A majority (63.8%) of participants under 13 years (minimum age requirement) reported social media use. Under-13 social media users had an average of 3.38 social media accounts, with 68.2% having TikTok accounts and 39.0% saying TikTok was the social media site they used the most. Females reported higher use of TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest, while males reported higher use of YouTube and Reddit. Additionally, 6.3% of participants with social media accounts reported having a secret social media account hidden from their parents' knowledge. Our findings reveal a high prevalence rate of underage social media use in early adolescence. These findings can inform current policies and legislation aimed at more robust age verification measures, minimum age requirements, and the enhancement of parental controls on social media. Clinicians can counsel about the potential risks of early adolescent social media use. In a sample of 10,092 U.S. early adolescents, a majority (63.8%) of participants under 13 years old (minimum age requirement) reported social media use. Under-13 social media users had an average of 3.38 social media accounts.

Annual Research Review: Adolescent social media use is not a monolith: toward the study of specific social media components and individual differences.

Social media have drastically changed the context of adolescent development. To date, the majority of research investigating the effects of these changes has measured time spent on social media, yielding inconclusive results-likely because this approach conceptualizes social media as a monolith. Social media experiences are complex and diverse, as are adolescents themselves. Emerging research has identified several specific components of social media that have varied associations with adolescent mental health, as well as individual difference factors that may alter these associations across adolescents. In this annual research review, we synthesize evidence regarding heterogeneity in social media effects related to (a) specific components of social media and (b) adolescents' individual differences regarding social media use and effects. We first focus on the specific social media components-content, features, and functions-that may be especially relevant for adolescent development. These include functions designed to foster relationships and social connections (e.g., social media feeds, 'friends'), hateful content, notifications, risky content, and algorithmically curated content, among others. Next, we provide an overview of for whom these effects may matter most. We review research on individual differences that may explain some heterogeneity in social media effects, including gender/sex, age, marginalized status, neurobiological and social sensitivities, and other preexisting vulnerabilities to mental health concerns. The nascent work in these areas suggests many specific constructs and considerations that could drive future research examining nuanced and precise questions that go beyond 'screen time'. We discuss avenues for researchers to leverage methodological advancements and address how specific social media experiences and individual differences shape developmental outcomes.

Social Media and the Adolescent Transplant Recipient.

Social media is interwoven into adolescents' daily lives. Many adolescents utilize digital technology in their healthcare journeys, as do their caregivers. Health systems increasingly seek ways to leverage these new tools toward supporting and caring for patients. These approaches may be of particular importance of adolescents, as well as healthcare systems, in providing care for chronic and serious illness including transplant patients. This review article will begin with an overview of adolescent social media use. We will then consider ways in which social media may impact adolescents' healthcare experience including identity development and adherence. Caregivers may leverage social media for information seeking. Families may use social media to seek social support, as well as potential donors. For healthcare systems, social media may enhance research efforts as well as information delivery. Future directions include studies examining how social media can support adolescent transplant patients. incorporation of youth voice into these studies may enhance application of findings to clinical practice.

Deprivation’s role in adolescent social media use and its links to life satisfaction

Deprivation’s role in adolescent social media use and its links to life satisfaction

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA SCREEN TIME AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS DURING PANDEMIC COVID19 IN KUALA LUMPUR

Social media can be used as a channel for communication with family members. A strong dependence on the Internet may result from excessive screen time, which can then affect people's mental health and well-being. It has been suggested that adolescent social media use is associated with decreased mental health. One of the key components that affects a person's quality of life is their mental health in the aspects of anxiety and depression levels. This cross-sectional study aimed to measure and analyse the relationship between social media screen time and quality of life among undergraduate biomedical sciences students. In Kuala Lumpur, this study's online survey was carried out. A validated questionnaire about social media use and quality of life was used to conduct this online survey. The study involved 182 respondents. WhatsApp was the most popular communication platform, with 62.6%, followed by Twitter with 12.6%. 52.7% use social media for social and entertainment purposes. There was no significant mean difference in social media usage and screen time between gender, year of study, income, and residency (p>0.05). There was no significant interaction between gender and year of study for social media usage duration(F=1.465, p>0.05). There was no significant correlation between the level of social media with quality of life(p>0.05). Meanwhile, using binary logistic regression analysis, there was no significant relationship between level of screen time with all domains of quality of life. Meanwhile, there is a significant relationship between the level of screen time and the year of study OR=3.67(2nd year) and OR=3.14 (4th year) when compared to the first year (p<0.05). In conclusion, the results suggested there was a significant relationship between social media usage and with year of study. The results suggest that higher education should consider promoting the effective usage of social media using the social media platform as most students nowadays find information on social media. Keywords: Anxiety; depression; social media; screen time; quality of life; undergraduates.

Teen Talk: The Good, the Bad, and the Neutral of Adolescent Social Media Use

The debate on whether social media has a net positive or negative effect on youth is ongoing. Therefore, we conducted a thematic analysis on 2,061 posts made by 1,038 adolescents aged 15-17 on an online peer-support platform to investigate the ways in which these teens discussed popular social media platforms in their posts and to identify differences in their experiences across platforms. Our findings revealed four main emergent themes for the ways in which social media was discussed: 1) Sharing negative experiences or outcomes of social media use (58%, n = 1,095), 2) Attempts to connect with others (45%, n = 922), 3) Highlighting the positive side of social media use (20%, n = 409), and 4) Seeking information (20%, n = 491). Overall, while sharing about negative experiences was more prominent, teens also discussed balanced perspectives of connection-seeking, positive experiences, and information support on social media that should not be discounted. Moreover, we found statistical significance for how these experiences differed across social media platforms. For instance, teens were most likely to seek romantic relationships on Snapchat and self-promote on YouTube. Meanwhile, Instagram was mentioned most frequently for body shaming, and Facebook was the most commonly discussed platform for privacy violations (mostly from parents). The key takeaway from our study is that the benefits and drawbacks of teens' social media usage can co-exist and net effects (positive or negative) can vary across different teens across various contexts. As such, we advocate for mitigating the negative experiences and outcomes of social media use as voiced by teens, to improve, rather than limit or restrict, their overall social media experience. We do this by taking an affordance perspective that aims to promote the digital well-being and online safety of youth "by design."

Social Media Use in Adolescents: Bans, Benefits, and Emotion Regulation Behaviors.

Social media is an integral part of adolescents' daily lives, but the significant time they invest in social media has raised concerns about the effect on their mental health. Bans and severe restrictions on social media use are quickly emerging as an attempt to regulate social media use; however, evidence supporting their effectiveness is limited. Adolescents experience several benefits from social media, including increased social connection, reduced loneliness, and a safe space for marginalized groups (eg, LGBTQ+) to interact. Rather than enforcing bans and severe restrictions, emotion regulation should be leveraged to help adolescents navigate the digital social environment. This viewpoint paper proposes a nuanced approach toward regulating adolescent social media use by (1) discontinuing the use of ineffective bans, (2) recognizing the benefits social media use can have, and (3) fostering emotion regulation skills in adolescents to encourage the development of self-regulation.

Improving the Science of Adolescent Social Media and Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities of Smartphone-Based Mobile Sensing and Digital Phenotyping

AbstractThe impact of social media (SM) use (‘screentime’) on adolescent mental health has been the focus of increasing concern, despite mixed findings from empirical research. Current methodological approaches rely on self-reported SM use, which has limited accuracy and obscure the dynamic interplay of SM use and mental health. Smartphone-based mobile sensing offers new opportunities to gain insights into adolescents’ SM use patterns and behaviors, particularly at an idiographic level. Considerations and challenges of smartphone sensing methods for capturing adolescents’ SM use patterns and behaviors in clinical psychological science are discussed in the context of a pilot study using smartphone-based sensing with adolescents. The pilot study included 19 adolescents (Mean age = 15.84; 68% boys; 79% White) who installed a passive monitoring application (AWARE) on their phones for 31 (SD = 5.6) days. Descriptive data of sensing acceptability and feasibility are presented based on participant ratings and data yield ratio of usable data (74.18%). Sensing yielded 10,038 hourly observations collected from the ‘application foreground’ sensor across all participants from social media apps, and a total of 645 applications used. Categorization of SM apps were coded (kappa >.90) into ‘social networking’ (N = 20 apps) and ‘broader SM’ (N = 41) and compared to both Play Store-defined SM apps (N = 26) and popular SM apps based on Common Sense Media Survey (N = 9). Descriptive data on extracted behavioral features (duration, checking) from SM use categories (binned hourly and daily) are presented. Challenges, opportunities, and future directions of sensing methods for SM use are discussed to inform our understanding of its impacts on mental health and to improve the rigor of SM research in clinical psychological science.

U.S. Adolescents’ daily social media use and well-being: Exploring the role of addiction-like social media use

ABSTRACT Associations between adolescent social media use and well-being are inconclusive, and studies using rigorous methodologies and objective measures are needed. Additionally, attention on what individual differences may moderate linkages between social media and well-being is necessary. We tested 1) how daily social media use (assessed via objective-reports and self-reports during an ecological momentary assessment period) relates to daily subjective well-being, 2) the prevalence and concordance between scholar-defined addiction-like social media use (ASMU) and participant perceptions of social media addiction, 3) how these constructs relate to subjective well-being, and 4) if these constructs moderate daily links between social media use and subjective well-being. In a sample of 103 adolescents (M age = 16.48, 47% female), ASMU and perceived addiction were highly correlated but some adolescents’ classification differed when cross-referencing. Both were similarly associated with demographics and depressive symptoms. Self-reported, but not objectively-recorded, social media use was related to greater ASMU and perceived addiction. Links between social media use and well-being were inconsistent, with no moderation by ASMU or perceived addiction. Most adolescents endorsed some degree of ASMU, and future research should examine how social media-triggered disruptions to daily functioning relates to well-being.

Impact of Social Media Use, Social Comparison & Self-Esteem Among Adolescents

The present research examined how social media, social comparison, and self-esteem affect adolescents. After an extensive literature review, these hypotheses were developed. 1) Social media use, social comparison, and self-esteem among teenagers will be significantly related. 2) Social media use will affect self-esteem among adolescents.3) Adolescent self-esteem will be affected by social comparison.4) Gender will affect adolescent social media use, comparison, and self-esteem of the 249 samples, 153 are female and 96 are male. Survey participants were 14–25 years old. Data were purposively sampled from Faisalabad educational institutions. The findings were assessed using these methods. Participant demographics were collected using a sheet. Adolescent self-esteem was measured with a scale. The Social Comparison scale measured self-comparative behavior. Participants' social media use was measured using a scale. Analyze the data using correlation, regression, and independent sample tests. Findings illuminate individual traits and tendencies.

Understanding what drives adolescent social media behaviours: Informing approaches for interventions

While much research has explored the impacts of social media use, less is known about what factors drive use. The present study examined the relationships between potential drivers of social media use; namely social media literacy, motivations, and internalisation of appearance ideals, and determined whether they work in combination or individually to predict a range of social media uses and behaviours over time, including intensity, frequency, exposure to fitness and celebrity content, photo editing, appearance comparisons, and types of use. Australian adolescent girls (n = 704) and boys (n = 938) aged 11–16 years completed online surveys at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Bivariate correlations and multiple regressions were performed separately by gender. Results revealed weak associations between drivers and found they uniquely contributed to social media behaviours, though this was dependent on use outcome. Thin- and muscular-internalisation were related to some appearance-focused use (e.g., comparisons, following celebrity and fitness accounts) among girls and boys, respectively. Critical thinking was associated with lower Snapchat use among boys and motivations were related to intensity and type of use (i.e., viewing, posting). These findings suggest multicomponent holistic interventions targeting numerous drivers may be most appropriate in modifying social media behaviours among adolescents.

The Effect of Adolescent Therapeutic Group Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in the Occurrence of Depression

Adolescents are tasked with developing identity vs. role confusion, where the search for identity will shape the individual's character. There has been an increase in the use of social media among adolescents, causing an increase in the number of depression in adolescents. The need for promotive and preventive efforts to prevent depression in adolescents. This study aims to determine the effect of therapeutic group therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy in preventing depression in adolescent social media users. This study was conducted on 70 students aged 15-18 years old using a purposive sampling technique according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. This study uses a quasi-experimental pre-post-test design with intervention and control groups. The intervention group was given therapeutic and cognitive behavioral therapy, and the control group was given therapeutic group therapy without cognitive behavioral therapy. The results of this study indicate a significant effect on the control group. The combination of therapeutic group therapy therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy can be recommended as a therapy for reducing depression in adolescent social media users.

The Relationship Between Adolescent Social Media Use and Body Esteem: The Mediating Role of Self- Concept Clarity

The Relationship Between Adolescent Social Media Use and Body Esteem: The Mediating Role of Self- Concept Clarity

Detecting adolescent depression in social media: A hierarchical ensemble learning approach

As digital landscapes evolve, adolescents increasingly rely on social media platforms for self-expression, leading to the vast dissemination of their mental and emotional states. Amidst the physiological and psychological transitions characteristic of adolescence, there is a heightened risk of depressive disorders. These shifts, coupled with the dynamic nature of their online expressions, create a compelling case for detecting latent signs of depression within their digital footprints. This thesis delves into the intersection of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and adolescent depression detection, introducing an innovative hierarchical ensemble model tailored for the intricate task of identifying depressive markers in adolescent social media content. This model amalgamates traditional word embeddings with state-of-the-art pretrained models, encapsulating both sentence-level and word-level representations. Empirical validation, conducted on a unique dataset centered on adolescent depression detection, indicates the models superior efficacy over existing baselines. By offering an ensemble approach that captures the nuances of adolescent linguistic expressions, this research illuminates the potential for timely and non-intrusive interventions in adolescent mental health.

Adolescent Social Media Use through a Self-Determination Theory Lens: A Systematic Scoping Review.

Social media is an integral part of adolescents' lives and has a strong influence on development and wellbeing. Research examining adolescent social media use and wellbeing is confusing as findings are inconsistent, inconclusive and contradictory. To address this issue, digital wellbeing scholars recommend that researchers adopt a theoretical approach with the aim of increasing meaningfulness and applicability of findings. Hence, this review applies self-determination theory to investigate how adolescent social media use supports and thwarts the basic psychological needs of relatedness, autonomy and competence. Satisfaction of all three psychological needs is essential for optimal development and wellbeing. A scoping review was conducted using a systematic search of five databases relating to adolescent social media use. The preferred items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (extension for scoping reviews) was applied resulting in 86 included studies. Adolescent social media use both supports and thwarts relatedness, autonomy and competence. The findings highlighted how different aspects of adolescent social media use (including intra-personal, inter-personal, situational and environmental factors) contribute to the satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs. This review illustrates how social media can be both beneficial and detrimental to satisfying the basic psychological needs of relatedness, autonomy and competence. This is important when considering that if psychological needs are satisfied or frustrated in adolescence, the repercussions can have a cascading effect throughout adulthood. This review identifies gaps in the literature and provides suggestions for future research.

Early Literature on Adolescent Social Media Use, Substance Use, and Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

Early Literature on Adolescent Social Media Use, Substance Use, and Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

PENGARUH FEAR OF MISSING OUT TERHADAP PERILAKU PHUBBING PADA REMAJA PENGGUNA MEDIA SOSIAL

The development of increasingly advanced technological times and the presence of the internet in Indonesia has reached hundreds of millions of users who use it for various purposes, one of which is for accessing social media, which reaches more than ninety percent, of which Indonesian teenagers in the 13-18 year age group use it the most. The aim of this research is to determine the influence of fear of missing out on phubbing behavior among adolescent social media users. The sampling techinique uses purposive sampling, the sample is 158 teenage respondents who use social media. The phubbing behavior scale compiled is based on aspects: communication disturbance and phone obsession, the fear of missing out scale compiled in this research is based on aspects: self and relatedness. This research uses a simple regression testing technique using SPSS version 25 for MacOS. The results of this research are that the hypothesis is accepted with a significance value of 0.000 (p<0.05), namely that fear of missing out has a very significant effect on phubbing behavior in adolescent social media users.

Mastering Digital Ethic: Uncovering the Influence of Self-Control, Peer Attachment, and Emotional Intelligence on Netiquette through Adolescent Social Media Exposure

The use of social media in the daily lives of adolescents is inevitable. The behavior in the virtual space also needs to be considered so that it does not have a negative impact on others. Internet Etiquette (Netiquette) is a set of social norms in cyberspace that all users need to apply. This study analyzes the influence of self-control, peer attachment, and emotional intelligence on netiquette through social media exposure in adolescents. Two hundred and thirty-seven (237) adolescents aged 10-24 from 21 provinces in Indonesia participated in this online survey. Researchers used five questionnaires and analyzed them using SEM with SmartPLS. The results showed an influence of emotional intelligence, self-control, and social media exposure on the application of teenage netiquette. Emotional intelligence has the highest influence on the application of netiquette. On the other hand, peer attachment indirectly affects netiquette with the mediator variable of social media exposure. It is essential to promote an understanding of netiquette to adolescents as one of the foundations of digital literacy.

Probing the digital exposome: associations of social media use patterns with youth mental health

Recently, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory highlighting the lack of knowledge about the safety of ubiquitous social media use on adolescent mental health. For many youths, social media use can become excessive and can contribute to frequent exposure to adverse peer interactions (e.g., cyberbullying, and hate speech). Nonetheless, social media use is complex, and although there are clear challenges, it also can create critical new avenues for connection, particularly among marginalized youth. In the current project, we leverage a large nationally diverse sample of adolescents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study assessed between 2019–2020 (N = 10,147, Mage = 12.0, 48% assigned female at birth, 20% Black, 20% Hispanic) to test the associations between specific facets of adolescent social media use (e.g., type of apps used, time spent, addictive patterns of use) and overall mental health. Specifically, a data-driven exposome-wide association was applied to generate digital exposomic risk scores that aggregate the cumulative burden of digital risk exposure. This included general usage, cyberbullying, having secret accounts, problematic/addictive use behavior, and other factors. In validation models, digital exposomic risk explained substantial variance in general child-reported psychopathology, and a history of suicide attempt, over and above sociodemographics, non-social screentime, and non-digital adversity (e.g., abuse, poverty). Furthermore, differences in digital exposomic scores also shed insight into mental health disparities, among youth of color and sexual and gender minority youth. Our work using a data-driven approach supports the notion that digital exposures, in particular social media use, contribute to the mental health burden of US adolescents.

Social Media Use as a Predictor of Positive and Negative Affect: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Adolescents with and without Clinical Depression.

Social media use is common in adolescents, with implications for psychosocial development and the emergence of depression. Yet, little is known about the time-linked connections between social media use and adolescents' affective experiences and how they may differ between depressed and non-depressed youth. We leveraged ecological momentary assessment in adolescents oversampled for current depression to examine (1) associations between social media use and concurrent and later positive and negative affect and (2) sex and presence of a depressive disorder as moderators of these associations. Adolescents aged 14-17 with (n = 48) and without (n = 97) clinical depression, as indicated via clinical interview, reported momentary social media use and positive and negative affect seven times per day for one week. Multilevel modeling indicated that social media use was associated with reduced positive affect both concurrently and at the next assessment. Further, among clinically depressed youth only, social media use was associated with reduced negative affect at the next assessment. Results suggest that social media use may reduce both positive and negative affect, highlighting the nuanced relation between adolescent social media use and emotional health and laying the groundwork for future research to address several open questions.