Measuring Interests Not Minutes: Development and Validation of the Adolescents’ Digital Technology Interactions and Importance Scale (ADTI)

Moreno, Megan A.; Binger, Kole; Zhao, Qianqian; Eickhoff, Jens

doi:10.2196/16736

Cited by 27 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Examples of posting might include posting photos or updates on social media. To understand the quality of social media use, adolescents completed the Adolescents’ Digital Technology Interactions and Importance Scale [ 41 ]. The Adolescents’ Digital Technology Interactions and Importance Scale is an 18-item measure that assesses the importance of activities on social media to bridge online and offline preferences and experience, go outside one’s identity in the offline environment, and social connection (eg, see what people are up to without asking them, direct message, and video chat).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations Between Social Media, Bedtime Technology Use Rules, and Daytime Sleepiness Among Adolescents: Cross-sectional Findings From a Nationally Representative Sample

Hamilton¹,

Lee²

2021

JMIR Ment Health

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Background Social media use is associated with poor sleep among adolescents, including daytime sleepiness, which affects adolescents’ mental health. Few studies have examined the associations among specific aspects of social media, such as frequency of checking and posting, perceived importance of social media for social belonging, and daytime sleepiness. Identifying whether certain adolescents are more at risk or protected from the effects of social media on sleepiness may inform future interventions for social media, sleep, and mental health. Objective This study aims to examine the association between social media use frequency and importance, daytime sleepiness, and whether the perceived importance of social media for social interactions and parental rules around bedtime technology moderated these relationships. Methods This cross-sectional survey study was conducted with a sample of 4153 adolescents from across the United States. Qualtrics was used to collect data via panel recruitment from a national sample representing the US demographics of teens aged 12 to 17 years. Participants completed measures of daytime sleepiness, frequency of social media checking and posting, and the importance of social media for social interactions. Parents reported whether they had a household rule around bedtime media and screen use. Hierarchical regressions and moderation analyses were conducted, covarying for age, gender, and age at first smartphone use. Results Participants had a mean age of 14.64 (SD 1.66) years in grades 6 to 12, 46.45% (1929/4153) identified as female, and 67.93% (2821/4153) identified as White. The results indicated that adolescents who posted (B=0.70, SE 0.04; P<.001) or checked (B=0.76, SE 0.04; P<.001) social media more frequently or who perceived social media to be more important for social belonging (B=0.36, SE 0.02; P<.001) had higher levels of daytime sleepiness. Moderation analyses indicated that the relationship between social media use frequency and daytime sleepiness was exacerbated by higher levels of perceived social media importance (B=0.04, SE 0.01; P<.001). Adolescents without household rules around bedtime technology use were more likely to be affected by social media checking (B=−0.34, SE 0.09; P<.001) and importance (B=−0.16, SE 0.04; P<.001) on daytime sleepiness. Conclusions The findings suggest that social media use frequency and perceived importance of social interactions are associated with daytime sleepiness among adolescents. It is important to consider youth’s perceptions of social media when assessing the potential effects of social media use frequency on youth well-being. Furthermore, youth who did not have parental rules around bedtime technology use were most likely to be affected by social media use and perceived importance. The findings may extend to other mental health outcomes and may guide future prevention and intervention programs designed to improve social media use, sleep, and mental health.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations Between Social Media, Bedtime Technology Use Rules, and Daytime Sleepiness Among Adolescents: Cross-sectional Findings From a Nationally Representative Sample

Hamilton¹,

Lee²

2021

JMIR Ment Health

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“…Critical constructs to consider in the balance of the risks and benefits of technology and media use include factors such as device ownership, frequency of social media use, and the importance of use [ 17 ]. Furthermore, other underlying factors in an adolescent’s offline environment may also be critical to consider.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Technology and Media Use by Adolescents: Latent Class Analysis

Moreno¹,

Binger²,

Zhao³

et al. 2022

JMIR Pediatr Parent

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Background Digital technology and media use is integral to adolescents’ lives and has been associated with both positive and negative health consequences. Previous studies have largely focused on understanding technology behaviors and outcomes within adolescent populations, which can promote assumptions about adolescent technology use as homogeneous. Furthermore, many studies on adolescent technology use have focused on risks and negative outcomes. To better understand adolescent digital technology use, we need new approaches that can assess distinct profiles within study populations and take a balanced approach to understanding the risks and benefits of digital technology use. Objective The purpose of this study was to identify profiles of adolescent technology use within a large study population focusing on four evidence-based constructs: technology ownership and use, parental involvement, health outcomes, and well-being indicators. Methods Adolescent-parent dyads were recruited for a cross-sectional web-based survey using the Qualtrics (Qualtrics International, Inc) platform and panels. Technology use measures included ownership of devices, social media use frequency, and the Adolescents’ Digital Technology Interactions and Importance scale. Parent involvement measures included household media rules, technology-related parenting practices, parent social media use frequency, and the parent-child relationship. Health outcome measures included physical activity, sleep, problematic internet use, and mental health assessments. Well-being indicators included mental wellness, communication, and empathy. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify distinct profile groups across the aforementioned 4 critical constructs. Results Among the 3981 adolescent-parent dyads recruited, adolescent participants had a mean age of 15.0 (SD 1.43) years; a total of 46.3% (1842/3981) were female, 67.8% (2701/3981) were White, and 75% (2986/3981) lived in a household with an income above the poverty line. The LCA identified 2 discrete classes. Class 1 was made up of 62.8% (2501/3981) of the participants. Class 1 participants were more likely than Class 2 participants to report family-owned devices, have lower technology importance scores, have household technology rules often centered on content, have positive parent relationships and lower parent social media use, and report better health outcomes and well-being indicators. Conclusions Findings from this national cross-sectional survey using LCA led to 2 distinct profile groups of adolescent media use and their association with technology use and parent involvement as well as health and well-being outcomes. The two classes included a larger Class 1 (Family-Engaged Adolescents) and a smaller Class 2 (At-Risk Adolescents). The findings of this study can inform interventions to reinforce positive technology use and family support.

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“…Qualtrics parameters were set such that our sample was consistent with race or ethnicity data from the US census [ 31 ]. Recruitment procedures were modeled based on prior youth and social media studies using Qualtrics [ 32 , 33 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) [ 33 ] is a widely used screening measure of depression based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 14 criteria. The nine items are each rated on a 0 (Not at all) to 3 (nearly every day) scale, with higher scores indicating more severe depression symptoms.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media Use, Physical Activity, and Internalizing Symptoms in Adolescence: Cross-sectional Analysis

Rutter¹,

Howard²,

Riley³

et al. 2021

JMIR Ment Health

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Background Most American adolescents have access to smartphones, and recent estimates suggest that they spend considerable time on social media compared with other physical and leisure activities. A large body of literature has established that social media use is related to poor mental health, but the complicated relationship between social media and symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescents is yet to be fully understood. Objective We aim to investigate the relationship between social media use and depression and anxiety symptoms in adolescents by exploring physical activity as a mediator. Methods A Qualtrics survey manager recruited adult panel participants between February and March 2019, who indicated that they had adolescent children who spoke English. A total of 4592 adolescent-parent dyads completed the survey that took approximately 39 minutes. The survey entailed completing web-based questionnaires assessing various aspects of social media use, psychological symptoms, and psychosocial factors. The average age of the adolescent participants was 14.62 (SD 1.68; range 12-17) years, and the majority of the adolescent sample was male (2392/4592, 52.09%). Results Total social media use was associated with more depressive symptoms (multiple R2=0.12; F3,4480=207.1; P<.001), anxiety (multiple R2=0.09; F3,4477=145.6; P<.001), and loneliness (multiple R2=0.06; F3,4512=98.06; P<.001), controlling for age and gender. Physical activity was associated with decreased depression and anxiety symptoms after controlling for other extracurricular activities and social media use (multiple R2=0.24; F5,4290=266.0; P<.001). There were significant differences in symptoms based on gender: female adolescents reported higher rates of social media use and males reported higher rates of depression. Nonbinary and transgender adolescents had higher rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness than the female and male adolescents in the sample. Conclusions In a nationally representative sample of adolescents, more social media use was associated with more severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Increased physical activity was associated with decreased depression and anxiety symptoms. Physical activity partially mediated the relationship between social media use and depression and anxiety. As this was a cross-sectional study, we cannot conclude that social media use causes internalizing symptoms or that physical activity leads to decreased internalizing symptoms—there may be additional confounding variables producing the relationships we observed. Physical activity may protect against the potentially harmful effect of social media on some adolescents. The effect sizes were small to medium, and the results should be interpreted with caution. Other limitations of this study include our reliance on self-reporting. Future work should examine social media use beyond how much time adolescents spend using social media and instead focus on the nature of social media activity.

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Measuring Interests Not Minutes: Development and Validation of the Adolescents’ Digital Technology Interactions and Importance Scale (ADTI)

Cited by 27 publications

References 33 publications

Associations Between Social Media, Bedtime Technology Use Rules, and Daytime Sleepiness Among Adolescents: Cross-sectional Findings From a Nationally Representative Sample

Associations Between Social Media, Bedtime Technology Use Rules, and Daytime Sleepiness Among Adolescents: Cross-sectional Findings From a Nationally Representative Sample

Digital Technology and Media Use by Adolescents: Latent Class Analysis

Social Media Use, Physical Activity, and Internalizing Symptoms in Adolescence: Cross-sectional Analysis

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