Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Social media use among adolescents has increased alongside the development of digital technology. One behavior that deserves attention is doomscrolling, which refers to the habit of continuously accessing negative information. Among students at SMA Negeri 1 Kota Jambi, some were found to frequently follow information on social media until they lost track of time, had difficulty stopping their social media use, and experienced feelings of sadness and worry after viewing certain content. This study aimed to determine the relationship between doomscrolling and mental health among adolescents at SMA Negeri 1 Kota Jambi. This study used a quantitative design with a cross-sectional approach. The study population consisted of 1,069 students, with a sample of 100 respondents selected using purposive sampling. The instruments used were the Social Media Doomscrolling Scale (SMDS) to measure doomscrolling and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to assess depressive symptoms. Data were collected using questionnaires and analyzed using the Kendall's Tau correlation test. The results showed that 78% of respondents had a low level of doomscrolling, while 37% experienced mild depressive symptoms. Bivariate analysis showed a significant relationship between doomscrolling and mental health (p = 0.002; r = 0.281), with a positive direction and weak correlation strength. These findings indicate that the higher the level of doomscrolling, the greater the mental health problems experienced by adolescents. In conclusion, there was a relationship between doomscrolling and mental health among adolescents at SMA Negeri 1 Kota Jambi.
Institution: Universitas Jambi
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225165255