Social Media Use and Depressive Symptoms—A Longitudinal Study from Early to Late Adolescence

Kati Puukko, Lauri Hietajärvi, Erika Maksniemi, Kimmo Alho and Katariina Salmela-Aro
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Kati Puukko: Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Lauri Hietajärvi: Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Erika Maksniemi: Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Kimmo Alho: Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Katariina Salmela-Aro: Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-18

Abstract: An increasing number of studies have addressed how adolescents’ social media use is associated with depressive symptoms. However, few studies have examined whether these links occur longitudinally across adolescence when examined at the individual level of development. This study investigated the within-person effects between active social media use and depressive symptoms using a five-wave longitudinal dataset gathered from 2891 Finnish adolescents (42.7% male, age range 13–19 years). Sensitivity analysis was conducted, adjusting for gender and family financial status. The results indicate that depressive symptoms predicted small increases in active social media use during both early and late adolescence, whereas no evidence of the reverse relationship was found. Yet, the associations were very small, statistically weak, and somewhat inconsistent over time. The results provide support for the growing notion that the previously reported direct links between social media use and depressive symptoms might be exaggerated. Based on these findings, we suggest that the impact of social media on adolescents’ well-being should be approached through methodological assumptions that focus on individual-level development.

Keywords: social media; depressive symptoms; adolescence; longitudinal study; cross-lagged panel model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:16:p:5921-:d:399258

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