Online Social Networking in Adolescence: Patterns of Use in Six European Countries and Links With Psychosocial Functioning
Open accessAbstract
Purpose Online communication tools, such as social networking sites (SNS), have been comprehensively embraced by adolescents and have become a dominant daily social practice. Recognizing SNS as a key context of adolescent development, this study aimed to investigate associations between heavier SNS use, and adolescent competencies and internalizing problems.Methods Data was collected in six European countries: Greece, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Romania, and Iceland. Participants were 10,930 adolescents aged 14-17 years (F/M: 5,719/5,211; mean age 15.8 ± .7 years); 62.3% were aged 14-15.9 years and 37.7% were aged 16-17.9 years. Participants reported on their use of online communication tools, and their general competencies and internalizing problems (Youth Self Report).Results SNS are both ubiquitous--used by 70% of adolescents--and engaging, given that 40% of users spend 2 or more hours daily on SNS (labeled heavier SNS use). Heavier SNS use was associated with more internalizing problems, and the relation was consistently more pronounced among younger adolescents. Moreover, heavier SNS use was associated with lower academic performance and lower activities scores, especially for younger adolescents. In contrast, among older adolescents heavier SNS use was positively associated with offline social competence.Conclusions Although heavier SNS use is associated with higher social competence for older adolescents, it is also associated with increased internalizing problems and diminished competencies in academics and activities, especially for younger adolescents. Age, capturing developmental differences in social and regulatory skills, appears to moderate the effects of heavier SNS use on adolescent functioning.
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Tsitsika et al. (2014) found a significant effect of age in the relationship between heavy social media use and negative internalizing symptoms, with younger heavier users more likely to experience internalizing symptoms.
“Tsitsika et al. (2014) found a signi fi cant e ff ect of age in the relationship between heavy social media use and negative internalizing symptoms (anxious/depressed, withdrawn/depressed), with younger heavier social media users being more likely to experience internalizing symptoms compared to older heavier users.”
From A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents (2020) · cites this paper as Tsitsika et al. (2014)
Tsitsika et al. (2014) showed a positive relationship between heavy social media use and both depression and anxiety in a sample of 10,930 adolescents from six European countries.
“A study of 10,930 adolescents from six European countries by Tsitsika et al. (2014) showed a positive relationship between heavy social media use and both depression and anxiety.”
From A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents (2020) · cites this paper as Tsitsika et al. (2014)
Four studies (Dumitrache et al., 2012; O'Dea & Campbell, 2011; Tsitsika et al., 2014) failed to clearly define exposure measures and report validity/reliability.
“Four studies (Dumitrache et al., 2012; O ' Dea & Campbell, 2011; Tsitsika et al., 2014) failed to clearly de fi ne the exposure measures and to explicitly report their validity and reliability.”
From A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents (2020) · cites this paper as Tsitsika et al., 2014
The influence of age is still highly debated, with evidence pointing toward younger social media users being more likely to have worse mental health symptoms compared to older users, whereas others have found no significant age effect with time spent on social media.
“The influence of age is still highly debated with evidence pointing toward younger social media users being more likely to have worse mental health symptoms compared to older users [55], whereas others have found no significant age effect with time spent on social media [56].”
From Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents and Young Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. (2022) · cites this paper as [55]
Cross-cultural research including 10,930 adolescents from six European countries showed that using SNS for two or more hours a day was related to internalizing problems and decreased academic performance and activity.
“Cross-cultural research including 10,930 adolescents from six European countries (Greece, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Romania, and Iceland) furthermore showed that using SNS for two or more hours a day was related to internalizing problems and decreased academic performance and activity [54].”
From Social networking sites and addiction: Ten lessons learned (2017) · cites this paper as [54]
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- Authors
- Tsitsika, A. K., Tzavela, E. C., Janikian, M., Ólafsson, K., Iordache, A., Schoenmakers, T. M., Tzavara, C., & Richardson, C.
- Affiliations
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR)
- Masaryk University (CZ)
- Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy (RO)
- IVO Addiction Research Institute (NL)
- Panteion University (GR)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Adolescent Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-07
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 141-147
- ISSN
- 1054-139X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2056711460
- Cited by
- 249
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 50.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.nivel.nl
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Adolescent Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- 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 networking sites, adolescent social media use, internalizing problems, social competence, academic performance, offline activities, age differences, adolescent development, psychosocial functioning, European adolescents
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Educational Status, Europe, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Regression Analysis, Time Factors, Prevalence, Chi-Square Distribution, Behavior, Addictive, Risk Assessment, Internet, Social Networking, Social Skills
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