Tracking Effects of Problematic Social Networking on Adolescent Psychopathology: The Mediating Role of Sleep Disruptions

Abstract

Concerns are growing about adolescents' problematic social networking and possible links to depressed mood and externalizing behavior. Yet there remains little understanding of underlying processes that may account for these associations, including the mediating role of sleep disruption. This study tests this putative mediating process and examines change in problematic social networking investment and disrupted sleep, in relation to change in depressed mood and externalizing behavior. A sample of 874 students (41% male; 57.2% Caucasian; baseline M age = 14.4 years) from 27 high schools were surveyed. Participants' problematic social networking, sleep disruption, and psychopathology (depressed mood, externalizing behaviors) were measured annually over 3 years. Longitudinal mediation was tested using latent trajectories of problematic social networking use, sleep disruption, and psychopathology. Both problematic social networking and sleep disruption underwent positive linear growth over time. Adolescents who increasingly invested in social networking reported increased depressed mood, with around 53% of this association explained by the indirect effect of increased sleep disruptions. Further, adolescents who increasingly invested in social networking also reported increased externalizing behavior; some of this relation was explained (13%) via increased sleep disruptions. However an alternative model in which increased externalizing was associated with increased social networking, mediated by sleep disruptions, indicated a reciprocal relation of similar magnitude. It is important for parents, teachers, and psychologists to minimize the negative effects of social networking on adolescents' psychopathology. Interventions should potentially target promoting healthy sleep habits through reductions in social networking investment and rescheduling usage away from bedtime.

Understanding Links Between Social Media Use, Sleep and Mental Health: Recent Progress and Current Challenges

“…As a topic of current interest to a wide audience, research findings in this area are also being widely discussed in a public forum and as socially responsible researchers, we must consider the impact of our words. For example, research literature often approaches media use as a potential threat or harmful activity, using language around social media "addiction" and "problematic use" [10,[72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79], which can pathologise social media use despite insufficient evidence for considering it an addiction [80]. From our experience through research and engagement with adolescents and their teachers and parents, we have found that this type of language from adults is not constructive and often shuts down the potential for meaningful dialogue that can build shared inter-generational understanding.…”

Identifying drivers for bedtime social media use despite sleep costs: the adolescent perspective

“…[12][13][14][15] Sleep interventions for today's adolescents must therefore address social media habits as part of supporting sufficient, good quality sleep, which may also bring about associated improvements in school experiences and mental health. 16,17 In order to effectively support healthy social media habits for sleep, we first need to understand the cognitive, emotional and social drivers that underpin adolescents' bedtime social media engagement.…”

Mobile Phones in the Bedroom: Trajectories of Sleep Habits and Subsequent Adolescent Psychosocial Development

“…Thus, communicating via mobile phones "into the night" likely contributes to sleep problems, which in turn may lead to increases in a wide range of psychosocial problems-from mental health symptoms to poor coping and self-esteem. Indeed, a body of research has documented negative consequences of excessive use of other electronic media (Hale & Guan, 2015;Vernon, Barber, & Modecki, 2015;Vernon et al, 2017), and we argue these negative effects may be due, in part, to technology's potential for replacing other tasks necessary for healthy development, such as sleep.…”