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Increase in time spent on social media is associated with modest increase in depression, conduct problems, and episodic heavy drinking
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Adolescent use of social media has been linked to a range of negative outcomes, but it is still unclear whether the associations are spurious. To address this issue, we examined if within-individual change in time spent on social media was associated with within-individual changes in depression, conduct problems, and episodic heavy drinking in a sample of adolescents using first-differencing models (FD-models). METHODS: A sample of 763 Norwegian adolescents (45.1% boys; mean age 15.22 years, standard deviation 1.44) completed two questionnaires 6-months apart. The associations between changes in time spent on social media and symptoms of depression, conduct problems, and frequency of episodic heavy drinking were estimated using FD-models, a statistical technique that effectively controls for all time-invariant individual factors. We also accounted for three time-variant putative confounders: frequency of sports practice, frequency of unsupervised leisure activities, and peer relationship problems. RESULTS: Increases in time spent on social media were associated with increases in symptoms of depression (b = 0.13 [95% CI: 0.01, 0.24], p = 0.038), increases in conduct problems (b = 0.07 [95% CI: 0.02, 0.10], p = 0.007), and increases in episodic heavy drinking (b = 0.10 [95% CI: 0.06, 0.15], p < 0.001), after adjusting for changes in the three hypothesized confounders. The effect-sizes for these relationships were, however, quite modest. CONCLUSION: Increased time spent on social media was modestly related to increases in depression, conduct problems, as well as frequency of episodic heavy drinking among adolescents.
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“However, other studies have reported prospective associations between social media use and mental health problems [17–19].”
From Long-Term Consequences of Time Spent on Social Media in Adolescence on Mental Health in Young Adulthood: A Cohort Study From Sweden. (2026) · cites this paper as [19]
In the citing paper
“The heavy reliance on correlational data severely limits our ability to infer directionality and argue that exposure to social media causes depression (11, 22).”
From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“Cross-sectional and correlational trend analyses appear to show increases in depression rates alongside increased social media engagement [(9, 11–14); also see (15), for a contrasting result].”
From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“Meta-analyses of cross-sectional studies on social media use and depression also report small pooled effect sizes (9, 11, 12), suggesting the presence of extraneous variables.”
From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [11]
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“The heavy reliance on correlational data severely limits our ability to infer directionality and argue that exposure to social media causes depression (11, 22).”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Brunborg, G. S., & Burdzovic Andreas, J.
- Affiliations
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NO)
- Department of Alcohol Tobacco & Drugs Norwegian Institute of Public Health Norway
- Corresponding author
- Brunborg, Geir Scott
- ORCID
- Brunborg, Geir Scott
- Venue
- Journal of Adolescence
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-06-26
- Volume
- 74
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 201-209
- ISSN
- 0140-1971 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9254
- OpenAlex
- W2955504934
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 29.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Adolescence (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- social media use, adolescents, depression, conduct problems, episodic heavy drinking, within-person change, spurious association, sports practice, peer relationship problems
- MeSH terms
- Problem Behavior, Underage Drinking, Adolescent, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Norway, Peer Group, Surveys and Questionnaires, Time Factors, Social Media, Binge Drinking
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