Is social media use associated with children's well‐being? Results from the UK Household Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Introduction: There are concerns about young people's increasing use of social media and the effects this has on overall life satisfaction. Establishing the significance of social media use requires researchers to take simultaneous account of other factors that might be influential and it is essential to adopt a longitudinal perspective to investigate temporal patterns.Method: Measures of happiness for children aged 10-15 from 7 waves of the UK Household Longitudinal Study were examined (n=7596). Multilevel models were used to assess the relative association between these measures, children's social media use and individual, household and community characteristics.Results: High use of social media was found to be significantly associated with change in happiness scores but was not associated with worsening life satisfaction trajectories. The most consistent factor was gender, with girls experiencing the largest decline in happiness between two time points (0.18 points) and being more likely to have a worsening trajectory over time (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.36 -2.32). Parental mental health, household support and household income were also important. Conclusion:Moderate use of social media does not play an important role in shaping children's life satisfaction. Higher levels of use is associated with lower levels of happiness, especially for girls but more research is needed to understand how this technology is being used. As well as focusing on high levels of social media use, policy makers should also concentrate on particular demographic groupings and factors affecting the social fabric of the households in which children grow up.

Perceptions of young adults’ problematic technology use among Australian youth professionals

“…Consistent with previous literature, participants reported young men were more likely to experience problems with gaming (Király et al, 2017;Wartberg et al, 2019;Wichstrom et al, 2019) and young women were more likely to experience problems with social media (Booker, 2019;Twigg et al, 2020). For many participants, further perspectives on vulnerable populations were mixed and predominantly speculative.…”

Social Media Addiction in High School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study Examining Its Relationship with Sleep Quality and Psychological Problems

“…In addition, it has been determined that the difficulties experienced by high school students (emotional problems, conduct problems, attention deficit and hyperactivity, and peer problems) increase social media addiction (H 1 ). It is emphasized that spending a long time on the Internet increases the possibility of exposure to risks and pathological tendencies, and that the time spent using social media is harmful to mental health (Alonzo et al, 2020 ; Coyne et al, 2020 ; Stockdale & Coyne, 2020 ; Twigg et al, 2020 ). It is known that during the pandemic, missing the daily routines that school brings and absence of time spent with peers causes adolescents to experience a great number of problems.…”

Exploring the Role of Social Media Use Motives, Psychological Well-Being, Self-Esteem, and Affect in Problematic Social Media Use

“…However, although moderate use of social media does not interfere with overall functioning and psychological well-being (Twigg et al, 2020), negative effects stemming from social media use have been examined in the context of excessive and problematic usage. Research investigating the negative outcomes of social media use has indicated that problematic social media use (PSMU) may lead to deteriorated psychological well-being (Huang, 2012;Lin et al, 2016) and overall health (Pontes, 2017;Brailovskaia et al, 2020).…”