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Cited by 29LGBTQ Health, Identity, and PolicyImpact of Technology on AdolescentsMental Health via Writing

Associations Among Web-Based Civic Engagement and Discrimination, Web-Based Social Support, and Mental Health and Substance Use Risk Among LGBT Youth: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

Open access
Tao, Xiangyu, Fisher, Celia·2023·Journal of Medical Internet Research
DOI 10.2196/46604PMC PMC10337473

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Social media use is ubiquitous among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender or nonbinary (LGBT) adolescents. The time spent on LGBT sites and involvement in social justice-oriented web-based civic activities can increase exposure to heterosexist and transphobic posts, resulting in increases in depression, anxiety, and substance use. Collaborative social justice civic engagement may also increase LGBT adolescents' social support on the web, which may buffer the mental health and substance use risks associated with web-based discrimination. OBJECTIVE: Drawing on the minority stress and stress-buffering hypotheses, this study aimed to test time spent on LGBT sites, involvement in web-based social justice activities, the mediating effect of web-based discrimination, and the moderating effect of web-based social support on mental health and substance use. METHODS: An anonymous web-based survey conducted from October 20 to November 18, 2022, analyzed data from 571 respondents (mean age 16.4, SD 1.1 years): 125 cisgender lesbian girls, 186 cisgender gay boys, 111 cisgender bisexual adolescents, and 149 transgender or nonbinary adolescents. Measures included demographics, web-based LGBT identity disclosure, hours per week spent on LGBT social media sites, engagement in web-based social justice activities (Online Civic Engagement Behavior Construct), exposure to web-based discrimination (Online Victimization Scale), web-based social support (adapted from scales examining web-based interactions), depressive and anxiety symptoms, and substance use (the Patient Health Questionnaire modified for Adolescents; Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item; and Car, Relax, Alone, Forget, Friends, Trouble Screening Test). RESULTS: The time spent on LGBT social media sites was unrelated to web-based discrimination after civic engagement was accounted for (90% CI -0.007 to 0.004). Web-based social justice civic engagement was positively associated with social support (β=.4, 90% CI 0.2-0.4), exposure to discrimination (β=.6, 90% CI 0.5-0.7), and higher substance use risk (β=.2, 90% CI 0.2-0.6). Consistent with minority stress theory, exposure to web-based discrimination fully mediated the positive association between LGBT justice civic engagement and depressive (β=.3, 90% CI 0.2-0.4) and anxiety symptoms (β=.3, 90% CI 0.2-0.4). Web-based social support did not moderate the association between exposure to discrimination with depressive (90% CI -0.07 to 0.1) and anxiety symptoms (90% CI -0.06 to 0.1) and substance use (90% CI -0.04 to 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of examining LGBT youth's specific web-based activities and the need for future research to focus on the intersectional experiences of LGBT adolescents from racial and ethnic minoritized groups through culturally sensitive questions. This study also calls for social media platforms to implement policies that mitigate the effects of algorithms that expose youth to heterosexist and transphobic messaging, such as adopting machine learning algorithms that can efficiently recognize and remove harmful content.

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  • In a cross-sectional study of 571 U.S. LGBT middle school and high school students aged 14-18, time spent on LGBT social media sites had a positive effect on substance use.

    “+ effect of time spent on LGBT social media sites on substance use; + effects of LGBT social justice civic engage- ment on depressive and anxiety symptoms and these effects were fully”

    From The Effect of Civic Engagement on Different Dimensions of Well-Being in Youth: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Tao and Fisher ( 2023 )

    Methods > Participants and Recruitment describes eligible U.S. LGBT middle- and high-school students aged 14–18 and a final sample of 571. Results > Mental Health and Substance Use Risk reports a positive direct association between time on LGBT social media sites and substance use risk (β=.2), not a causal effect on substance use itself; the cross-sectional design cannot establish causation. The copy provides no page numbers for these passages. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • In a cross-sectional study of 571 U.S. LGBT middle school and high school students aged 14-18, LGBT social justice civic engagement had positive effects on depressive and anxiety symptoms.

    “+ effect of time spent on LGBT social media sites on substance use; + effects of LGBT social justice civic engage- ment on depressive and anxiety symptoms and these effects were fully”

    From The Effect of Civic Engagement on Different Dimensions of Well-Being in Youth: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Tao and Fisher ( 2023 )

    The Methods (Participants and Recruitment) describe U.S. LGBT middle- and high-school students aged 14–18, and the Abstract (Methods) reports 571 analyzed respondents. The Abstract (Results) reports a positive association between LGBT social justice civic engagement and depressive and anxiety symptoms, fully mediated by exposure to web-based discrimination. Because this was a cross-sectional survey, it does not establish the causal “effects” stated in the claim. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Online participation was associated with increased depressive symptoms among American LGBT adolescents, fully mediated by exposure to web-based discrimination.

    “Further -more, online participation was associated with increased depressive symptoms among American LGBT adolescents, and this relationship was fully mediated by exposure to web-based discrimination (Tao & Fisher, 2023).”

    From The Effect of Civic Engagement on Different Dimensions of Well-Being in Youth: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Tao & Fisher, 2023

    The Abstract Results (page not provided) report that exposure to web-based discrimination fully mediated the positive association between LGBT social justice civic engagement and depressive symptoms. The claim broadens that specific activity to “online participation.” The Discussion’s Principal Findings (page not provided) distinguish time spent on LGBT social media sites, which was associated with fewer depressive symptoms in the correlation analysis, from civic engagement. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Online engagement can be positively associated with anxiety symptoms (through mediation by exposure to web-based discrimination) and a higher risk of substance use among LGBT adolescents.

    “Also, at least among LGBT adolescents, online engage -ment can be positively associated with anxiety symptoms (through mediation by exposure to web-based discrimi -nation) and a higher risk of substance use (Tao & Fisher, 2023).”

    From The Effect of Civic Engagement on Different Dimensions of Well-Being in Youth: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Tao & Fisher, 2023

  • Online engagement can have a positive impact, which can turn detrimental when engaged people face web-based discrimination.

    “Online engagement yielded more mixed results, as it can have a positive impact (e.g., Foster, 2014, 2015, 2019), which can turn detrimental when engaged people face webbased discrimination (Tao & Fisher, 2023 ).”

    From The Effect of Civic Engagement on Different Dimensions of Well-Being in Youth: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Tao & Fisher, 2023

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [18]Mokhtar MB Sukeri WB Latiff Z Social media in propagating influence on spreading LGBT movements in Malaysia Proceeding of the 5th Conference on Communication, Culture and Media Studies 2019 5th Conference on Communication, Culture and Media Studies Apr 14-16, 2019 Yogyakarta

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Authors
Tao, X., & Fisher, C.
Affiliations
Fordham University (US)
Corresponding author
Fisher, Celia
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Publisher
JMIR Publications Inc.
Published
2023-06-26
Volume
25
Pages
e46604
ISSN
1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2196/46604
PMC
PMC10337473
OpenAlex
W4377008731
Cited by
29
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1
FWCI
8.58
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Fordham University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
Keywords
LGBTQ youth, social justice activism, online discrimination, cyber victimization, mental health, substance use risk, minority stress, stress buffering, transgender youth, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, identity disclosure, mediating and moderating effects, non-binary youth, bisexual youth, gay youth, lesbian youth
MeSH terms
Sexual and Gender Minorities, Adolescent, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Support, Substance-Related Disorders, Internet, Transgender Persons, Social Discrimination

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