Associating Depressive Symptoms with Social Media Usage Through Sleep Deprivation in Adolescents
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i1.2360Keywords:
Social Media, Mental Health, Sleep, Sleep Deprivation, Depression, Depressive Symptoms, Adolescent, TeenAbstract
Objective: Social media has become increasingly popular among adolescents in the last decade, which may impact their health and health behaviors, such as sleep and psychological well-being. However, our understanding of the relationships between social media use, sleep, and mental health among millennial adolescents is scarce. The objective of this study is to use nationally representative data to examine the associations between frequent social media usage, sleep deprivation, and depressive symptoms among young adolescents.
Methods: This study used data from the Monitoring the Future survey (2018 & 2019), an annual, cross-sectional, and nationally representative study of 8th and 10th graders (N=14,526). A scale of three CES-D type questions (hopelessness, unhappiness, and no enjoyment of life) were used to assess depressive symptoms. Path analysis was conducted to examine how the association between frequencies of social media usage and depressive symptoms was mediated through the levels of sleep deprivation. A 3D graph was generated from the Ordinary Least Squares Regression to display changes in the frequencies of social media use which resulted in varying levels of sleep deprivation and depressive symptoms.
Results: Results from the path analysis showed 39.73% of social media usage’s total effect on depressive symptoms was mediated through sleep deprivation. The 3D graph showed that more frequent social media usage was correlated with higher levels of sleep deprivation and hence more depressive symptoms among young adolescents.
Conclusions: The findings implied that promoting less social media use could improve sleep adequacy which appears to be beneficial for adolescents’ mental health.
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