Probing the digital exposome: associations of social media use patterns with youth mental health
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Recently, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory highlighting the lack of knowledge about the safety of ubiquitous social media use on adolescent mental health. For many youths, social media use can become excessive and can contribute to frequent exposure to adverse peer interactions (e.g., cyberbullying, and hate speech). Nonetheless, social media use is complex, and although there are clear challenges, it also can create critical new avenues for connection, particularly among marginalized youth. In the current project, we leverage a large nationally diverse sample of adolescents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study assessed between 2019–2020 ( N = 10,147, M age = 12.0, 48% assigned female at birth, 20% Black, 20% Hispanic) to test the associations between specific facets of adolescent social media use (e.g., type of apps used, time spent, addictive patterns of use) and overall mental health. Specifically, a data-driven exposome-wide association was applied to generate digital exposomic risk scores that aggregate the cumulative burden of digital risk exposure. This included general usage, cyberbullying, having secret accounts, problematic/addictive use behavior, and other factors. In validation models, digital exposomic risk explained substantial variance in general child-reported psychopathology, and a history of suicide attempt, over and above sociodemographics, non-social screentime, and non-digital adversity (e.g., abuse, poverty). Furthermore, differences in digital exposomic scores also shed insight into mental health disparities, among youth of color and sexual and gender minority youth. Our work using a data-driven approach supports the notion that digital exposures, in particular social media use, contribute to the mental health burden of US adolescents.
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,090
Awards: G1020259976, G1058358382, G1193622968, G1374265122, G1436251778, G1510635755, G1569016918, G1586463187, G1742849658, Testing a Diathesis-Stress Model of Adolescent Suicide: Dopaminergic, Social, and Inhibitory Mechanisms, Mechanisms of resilience to developmental stress in children and adolescents., G2715786902, G2718465150, G2735337927, Interpersonal Stress, Social Media, and Risk for Adolescent Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors, G2998093352, G3298128652, G3305455594, G343603955, G3438786812, G3449712672, G3563224455, G364308769, G3738900353, G3755973507, G4066048162, Imaging the neurodevelopmental trajectory of depression and anxiety disorders with HCP protocols, G4180929035, G4241744443, G469525291, Prospective predictors of risk and resilience trajectories of mental health in US youth during COVID-19, G5002640097, G5081895789, G5139799579, G5388004416, G5976565686, G6169933064, G687916792, G6887863799, G6922259526, G6983123888, G7271102572, G7310625978, G7652160222, G771167098, G815084465, G8281824583, G8679417706, G8762821959, G8865478933, G9000006386, G9000008241, G9000034221, G9000042425, G9000046731, G9000061868, G9000108491, G9000112882, G9000113866, G9000163168, G9000202101, G9000205938, G9000241459, G9000286149, 9/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT U MICHIGAN, 17/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT UCLA, The Center for Enhancing Treatment and Utilization for Depression and Emergent Suicidality (ETUDES) in Pediatric Primary Care, 8/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT CHLA, 6/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT OHSU, 21/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT WUSTL, 2/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT UMB, G923039674
OpenAlex ID: W4395050854