Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents and Young Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Shannon H, Bush K, Villeneuve PJ, Hellemans KG, Guimond S
JMIR mental health · 239 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Meta-analysis (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
Based on full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2022-02-05 · JMIR Ment Health · vol. 9 · issue 4 · p. e33450
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications
- Cited
- 562 citations · more than 100% of similar papers · 16.8× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 63 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Child Development and Digital Technology · Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- social media addiction, adolescents, young adults, depression, anxiety, stress, mental health, social media
5 authors
From CA
- Holly ShannonUniversity of Ottawa; Institute of Mental Health Research; Carleton University
- Katie BushUniversity of Ottawa; Institute of Mental Health Research
- Paul J. VilleneuveCarleton University
- Kim G. C. HellemansCarleton University
- Synthia Guimond · correspondingUniversity of Ottawa; Université du Québec en Outaouais; Institute of Mental Health Research; Carleton University
Abstract
Background
Technology is ever evolving, with more and more diverse activities becoming possible on screen-based devices. However, participating in a heavy screen-based lifestyle may come at a cost. Our hypothesis was that problematic social media use increased the prevalence of mental health outcomes.
Objective
This study seeks to systematically examine problematic social media use in youth and its association with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Methods
A systematic search was conducted to identify studies in adolescents and young adults, using the databases Engineering Village, Psycinfo, Pubmed, and Web of Science. A total of 18 studies were identified, with a total of 9269 participants in our review and included in the meta-analysis.
Results
Our metaregression shows moderate but statistically significant correlations between problematic social media use and depression (r=0.273, P<.001), anxiety (r=0.348, P<.001), and stress (r=0.313, P<.001). We did not find evidence of heterogeneity of these summary correlations by age, gender, or year of publication.
Conclusions
This study provides further evidence of the association between problematic social media use and negative mental health among adolescents and young adults and supports future research to focus on the underlying mechanisms of problematic use of social media.
Trial registration
PROSPERO CRD42021222309; https://tinyurl.com/2p9y4bjx.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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