Social media use and depression in adolescents: a scoping review
Open accessAbstract
There have been increases in adolescent depression and suicidal behaviour over the last two decades that coincide with the advent of social media (SM) (platforms that allow communication via digital media), which is widely used among adolescents. This scoping review examined the bi-directional association between the use of SM, specifically social networking sites (SNS), and depression and suicidality among adolescents. The studies reviewed yielded four main themes in SM use through thematic analysis: quantity of SM use, quality of SM use, social aspects associated with SM use, and disclosure of mental health symptoms. Research in this field would benefit from use of longitudinal designs, objective and timely measures of SM use, research on the mechanisms of the association between SM use and depression and suicidality, and research in clinical populations to inform clinical practice.
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Other identified gaps involved the lack of attention to risk and protective factors that may uncover which adolescents are particularly susceptible to the effects of SMU.
“and the lack of attention to risk and protective factors that may uncover which adolescents are particularly susceptible to the effects of SMU (e.g.[28,32,37]).”
From Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence. (2022) · cites this paper as [28]
In the meta-analysis by Ivie et al., the reported associations of SMU with depressive symptoms ranged from r = -.10 to r = +.33.
“For example, in the meta-analysis by Ivie et al. [14], the reported associations of SMU with depressive symptoms ranged from r = À.10 to r = þ.33.”
From Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence. (2022) · cites this paper as [14]
The Results (Quantity of SM use) and Discussion describe associations between social media use and depressive symptoms, but do not give the claimed correlation range. Searches for Ivie et al. and for the −.10 to +.33 values found no passage in our copy reporting those figures. (LLM, conf=0.74)
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- Authors
- Vidal, C., Lhaksampa, T., Miller, L., & Platt, R.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Vidal, Carol
- Venue
- International Review of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-02-17
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 235-253
- ISSN
- 0954-0261 (ISSN-L)
- 1369-1627
- PMC
- PMC7392374
- OpenAlex
- W3008073110
- Semantic Scholar
- 1f2571e30ca44fcba70eff84f8bf6aa9571075c4
- Cited by
- 259
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 56 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 5
- FWCI
- 4.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- International Review of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH118431)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Keywords
- social media use, adolescent depression, suicidality, social networking sites, adolescents, mental health disclosure
- MeSH terms
- Online Social Networking, Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Depression, Humans, Suicide, Social Media
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