Problematic Media Use and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression During the Pandemic: An Investigation among Peruvian Adolescents in low-and middle-income Settings

Abstract

Problematic media use (PMU), or the excessive use of digital media that hinders an adolescent’s functioning, has gained concerns, especially during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Using a large sample of low-and middle-income youth living in Perú, we examined rates of PMU during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic including the effects of gender and school grade level. In a subset of the sample with pre-COVID-19 data, we examined whether PMU increased during the pandemic and if anxiety and depression symptoms (pre-COVID-19) predicted an increase in PMU during the pandemic. Results showed that 7.8% of adolescents endorsed higher PMU scores in the “Problematic use” category with older adolescents endorsing higher PMU scores, with similar levels for boys and girls. In the sample with pre-COVID-19 data, main effect models revealed that PMU did not increase overall; however, depression and anxiety symptoms at time 1 significantly predicted higher PMU at time 2 (when controlling for time 1 PMU).