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New study links social media use with depression in teen girls
by Joseph Earnest November 15, 2017
Newscast Media SAN DIEGO—A controversial new study published Tuesday in the Clinical Psychological Science journal claims that an increased use of electronic devices is linked to a spike in depression symptoms and suicidal thoughts among teens, especially among teenage girls.
San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge, who led the study, recognizes that the study's findings only establish a correlation between screen time and depression. However, she still believes the research is a wake-up call. "One hour, maybe two hours [a day] doesn't increase risk all that much," Twenge claims. "But once you get to three hours--and especially four and then, really, five hours and beyond--that's where there's much more significant risk of suicide attempts, thinking about suicide and major depression." The study analyzed national surveys over five years from two annual questionnaires taken by US high school students: Monitoring the Future and the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. The surveys asked more than 500,000 teenagers between the ages 13 and 18 about their depression symptoms and online (social media) activity. "Among those who used electronic devices five or more hours a day, 48 percent had at least one suicide-related outcome. Thus, adolescents using devices five or more hours a day (versus one hour) were 66 percent more likely to have at least one suicide-related outcome," Twenge wrote in the paper. In addition, the findings revealed that girls were six times more likely to report depression symptoms than boys. According to Adam Pletter, a child psychologist based in Washington, DC, even though there is controversy regarding the effects of social media, there is often a technology general gap between kids and their parents. "We are digital immigrants," Pletter says. "We did not grow up with internet and cell phones — at least most of us did not. So there's a real dilemma, in that we're in charge of safeguarding our kids and teaching our kids how to be savvy digital users, and we don't have all the skills. Many of us are afraid of the technology." Add Comments >> Journal Reference:
Source: Sputnik
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