Exploring adolescents’ perspectives on social media and mental health and well-being – A qualitative literature review
Open accessAbstract
Many quantitative studies have supported the association between social media use and poorer mental health, with less known about adolescents’ perspectives on social media’s impact on their mental health and wellbeing. This narrative literature review aimed to explore their perspectives, focusing on adolescents aged between 13 and 17. It reviewed qualitative studies published between January 2014 and December 2020, retrieved from four databases: APA Psychinfo, Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar. The literature search obtained 24 research papers. Five main themes were identified: 1) Self-expression and validation, 2) Appearance comparison and body ideals, 3) Pressure to stay connected, 4) Social engagement and peer support and 5) Exposure to bullying and harmful content. This review has highlighted how social media use can contribute to poor mental health – through validation-seeking practices, fear of judgement, body comparison, addiction and cyberbullying. It also demonstrates social media’s positive impact on adolescent wellbeing - through connection, support and discussion forums for those with similar diagnoses. Future research should consider adolescent views on improvements to social media, studying younger participants, and the impact of COVID-19 on social media use and its associated mental health implications.
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Social media was identified as a complex and multifaceted tool, offering opportunities for connection, education, and identity exploration, while also highlighting concerns relating to misinformation, social comparison, online victimisation and highly immersive or difficult-to-disengage-from forms of engagement.
“Consistent with previous research (e.g., [4]), social media was identifed as a complex and multifaceted tool, ofering opportunities for connection, education, and identity exploration [19, 55, 56], while also highlighting concerns relating to misinformation, social comparison, online victimisation and highly immersive or difcult-to-disengage-from forms of engagement [24, 25, 28, 57].”
From The Complex and Multifaceted Nature of Social Media: Perspectives From Young Adolescents, Parents and Experts (2026) · cites this paper as [56]
Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSocial media can serve as a platform for seeking support during times of psychological distress.
“Social media can also serve as a platform for seeking support during the times of psychological distress (Bailey et al., 2022; Popat and Tarrant, 2023).”
From Will restricting the age of access to social media reduce mental illness in Australian youth? (2025) · cites this paper as Popat and Tarrant, 2023
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- Authors
- Popat, A., & Tarrant, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Leicester (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Popat, Anjali
- Venue
- Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2022-06-07
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 323-337
- ISSN
- 1359-1045 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7021
- PMC
- PMC9902994
- OpenAlex
- W4281609450
- Cited by
- 186
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 56 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 23
- FWCI
- 46.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
- Keywords
- social media use, adolescents, adolescent mental health, well-being, self-expression, validation seeking, body image, appearance comparison, cyberbullying, harmful content exposure, social connectedness, peer support, fear of judgment, social media addiction
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Adolescent, Humans, Mental Health, Narration, Social Media
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