CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 82Impact of Technology on AdolescentsChild Development and Digital TechnologyMedia and Digital Communication

Prevalence and Patterns of Social Media Use in Early Adolescents

Open access
Nagata, Jason M., Memon, Zain, Talebloo, Jonanne, Li, Karen, Low, Patrick, Shao, Iris Y., Ganson, Kyle T., Testa, Alexander +3 more·2025·Academic Pediatrics
DOI 10.1016/j.acap.2025.102784PMC PMC12048217
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe patterns of social media use, including underage use (under 13 years) and sex differences, in a diverse, national sample of early adolescents in the US. METHODS: 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 US. Specifically, using Chi-square and t-tests, we compared social media use patterns across demographic characteristics stratified by age and sex. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings reveal a high prevalence 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.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.acap.2025.102784

Cites

6 of 6 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Research finds high levels of problematic screen time and social media use in children and young adolescents.

    “For example, research finds high levels of problematic screen time and social media use in children and young adolescents (Nagata et al., 2025), yet none of the studies in this meta‐analysis addressed this challenge.”

    From The effectiveness of implementation intentions in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Nagata et al., 2025

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 21

  1. [2]Barbovschi M, Macháčková H, Ólafsson K. Underage use of social network sites: it’s about friends. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2015; 18: 328– 332. 10.1089/cyber.2014.0553 26075919 · DOI
  2. [3]Nagata JM, Ganson KT, Iyer P, Sociodemographic correlates of contemporary screen time use among 9- and 10-year-old children. J Pediatr. 2022; 240: 213– 220.e2. 10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.08.077 34481807 PMC9107378 · DOI · Paper page
  3. [4]Nagata JM, Cheng CM, Shim J, Bedtime screen use behaviors and sleep outcomes in early adolescents: a prospective cohort study. J Adolesc Health. 2024; 75: 650– 655. 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.06.006 39046391 PMC11610308 · DOI
  4. [5]Nagata JM, Sajjad OM, Smith N, Social media use and alcohol sipping in early adolescents: a prospective cohort study. Subst Use Misuse. 2024; 59: 971– 976. 10.1080/10826084.2024.2310501 38336620 PMC11104428 · DOI
  5. [6]Nagata JM, Iyer P, Chu J, Contemporary screen time modalities among children 9–10 years old and binge-eating disorder at one-year follow-up: a prospective cohort study. Int J Eat Disord. 2021; 54: 887– 892. 10.1002/eat.23489 33646623 PMC9714253 · DOI
  6. [8]Gonzales AL, Hancock JT. Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2011; 14: 79– 83. 10.1089/cyber.2009.0411 21329447 · DOI · Paper page
  7. [10]Nagata JM, Trompeter N, Singh G, Social epidemiology of early adolescent cyberbullying in the United States. Acad Pediatr. 2022; 22: 1287– 1293. 10.1016/j.acap.2022.07.003 35840085 PMC9969904 · DOI
  8. [11]Masciantonio A, Bourguignon D, Bouchat P, Balty M, Rimé B. Don’t put all social network sites in one basket: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and their relations with well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One. 2021; 16: e0248384. 10.1371/journal.pone.0248384 33705462 PMC7951844 · DOI
  9. [12]Nagata JM, Singh G, Sajjad OM, Social epidemiology of early adolescent problematic screen use in the United States. Pediatr Res. 2022; 92: 1443– 1449. 10.1038/s41390-022-02176-8 35768491 PMC9243697 · DOI
  10. [13]Twenge JM, Martin GN. Gender differences in associations between digital media use and psychological well-being: evidence from three large datasets. J Adolesc. 2020; 79: 91– 102. 10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.12.018 31926450 · DOI · Paper page
  11. [15]Charmaraman L, Richer AM, Liu C, Lynch AD, Moreno MA. Early adolescent social media-related body dissatisfaction: associations with depressive symptoms, social anxiety, peers, and celebrities. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2021; 42: 401– 407. 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000911 33507043 PMC8196598 · DOI
  12. [16]Garavan H, Bartsch H, Conway K, Recruiting the ABCD sample: design considerations and procedures. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2018; 32: 16– 22. 10.1016/j.dcn.2018.04.004 29703560 PMC6314286 · DOI · Paper page
  13. [17]Barch DM, Albaugh MD, Baskin-Sommers A, Demographic and mental health assessments in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study: updates and age-related trajectories. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2021; 52: 101031. 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.101031 34742018 PMC8579129 · DOI
  14. [19]Bagot KS, Tomko RL, Marshall AT, Youth screen use in the ABCD Study. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2022; 57: 101150. 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101150 36084446 PMC9465320 · DOI
  15. [21]Barry AE, Bates AM, Olusanya O, Alcohol marketing on Twitter and Instagram: evidence of directly advertising to youth/ adolescents. Alcohol Alcohol. 2016; 51: 487– 492. 10.1093/alcalc/agv128 26597794 PMC10150590 · DOI
  16. [22]Dakanalis A, Clerici M, Caslini M, Internalization of sociocultural standards of beauty and disordered eating behaviours: the role of body surveillance, shame and social anxiety. J Psychopathol. 2014; 20: 33– 37.
  17. [23]Hendriks H, Van den Putte B, Gebhardt WA, Moreno MA. Social drinking on social media: content analysis of the social aspects of alcohol-related posts on Facebook and Instagram. J Med Internet Res. 2018; 20: e226. 10.2196/jmir.9355 29934290 PMC6035352 · DOI
  18. [27]Nagata JM, Paul A, Yen F, Associations between media parenting practices and early adolescent screen use. Pediatr Res. 2025; 97: 403– 410. 10.1038/s41390-024-03243-y 38834780 PMC11626836 · DOI
  19. [28]Dwivedi YK, Kshetri N, Hughes L, Exploring the darkverse: a multi-perspective analysis of the negative societal impacts of the metaverse. Published online June 2 Inf Syst Front. 2023: 1– 44. 10.1007/s10796-023-10400-xPublished online June 2,. PMC10235847 37361890 · DOI
  20. [29]Chassiakos YR, Radesky J, Christakis D, Children and adolescents and digital media. Pediatrics. 2016; 138: e20162593. 10.1542/peds.2016-2593 27940795 · DOI · Paper page
  21. [30]Worthman CM, Tomlinson M, Rotheram-Borus MJ. When can parents most influence their child’s development? Expert knowledge and perceived local realities. Soc Sci Med (1982). 2016; 154: 62– 69. 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2016.02.040 PMC4826572 26945544 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Nagata, J. M., Memon, Z., Talebloo, J., Li, K., Low, P., Shao, I. Y., Ganson, K. T., Testa, A., He, J., Brindis, C. D., & Baker, F. C.
Affiliations
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (US)
  • Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
  • SRI International (US)
Corresponding author
Nagata, Jason M.
ORCID
Venue
Academic Pediatrics
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2025-05
Volume
25
Issue
4
Pages
102784
ISSN
1876-2859 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.acap.2025.102784
PMC
PMC12048217
OpenAlex
W4406269912
Cited by
82
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 66 · 2025: 16
FWCI
94.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Academic Pediatrics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health (U01DA041156, U01DA041022, U01DA041117, U24DA041147, U01DA041134, U01DA041174, U01DA041106, U01DA041120, U01DA041093, U24DA041123, U01DA041148, U01DA041025, U01DA041028, U01DA041089, U01DA041048, K08HL159350, R01MH135492)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
Keywords
social media use, early adolescence, sex differences, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, age verification, parental control, Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Age Factors, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Sex Factors, United States, Prevalence, Social Media

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review