Problematic social media use and mental health risks among first-year Chinese undergraduates: a three-wave longitudinal study
Zhou W, Yan Z, Yang Z, Hussain Z
Frontiers in psychiatry · 18 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Cohort study (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Government
- Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
- Government
- Government of Jiangsu Province
- Government
- National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences
- Grants
- Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (21YJCZH200); Government of Jiangsu Province (JSSCBS20210698)
Based on 3 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2023-09-07 · Front Psychiatry · vol. 14 · p. 1237924
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media
- Cited
- 47 citations · more than 100% of similar papers · 21.3× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 50 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Mental Health via Writing · Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- social media addiction, mental health risk, depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, first-year students, Chinese undergraduates, college adjustment, bidirectional relationship
4 authors
From CN, GB
- Wanqi ZhouSoochow University
- Zhihao YanSoochow University; Anhui Normal University
- Zeyang Yang · correspondingSoochow University
- Zaheer HussainNottingham Trent University
Abstract
Introduction
The association between social media use and mental health risks has been widely investigated over the past two decades with many cross-sectional studies reporting that problematic social media use (PSMU) is associated with higher mental health risk such as anxiety and depression. The present study examined the relationship between PSMU severity and mental health risks (depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness) using a three-wave longitudinal design.
Methods
A total of 685 first-year Chinese undergraduate students (Mean age = 19.12 years, SD = 0.92) completed surveys at three times points with intervals of 3 to 4 months. Results revealed that PSMU was positively correlated with all the mental health risk variables over the three time points.
Results
The prevalence of PSMU increased over the three research waves. Cross-lagged models identified bi-directional relationships between PSMU and mental health risks, while such links were not consistent between different mental health risk variables and can change over different research intervals.
Discussion
This study indicates that PSMU and mental health risks could predict each other in a vicious loop, but the differences between specific mental health risks and the research context (e.g., different term times and experiences in university) should not be ignored. Further research attention should be paid to the prevalence of PSMU and mental health conditions among Chinese first-year undergraduates who appear to have difficulties in adapting to university life.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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