Teens and the Social Media Challenge

Carras, M. C., Rooij, A. J., Mheen, D. V., Musci, R., Xue, Q.-L., & Mendelson, T. (2017). Video gaming in a hyperconnected world: A cross-sectional study of heavy gaming, problematic gaming symptoms, and online socializing in adolescents.

Computers in Human Behavior

Carras and the team undertook a study to determine how heavy video gaming and social media use of teenagers affected their depression and anxiety tendencies. Their objective was to examine social interactions and video gaming behaviors among teenagers to enrich their understanding of disorders that come with excessive video play. The researchers used latent class analysis on a sample of 9733 adolescents who were regular participants in heavy gaming, instant messaging, and social networking. They determined the associations between the teenagers’ quality of friendships, classes, and psychosocial well-being using latent class regression. The study's outcome indicated different classes of the teenagers engaged in heavy gaming classes that had varying online social interaction effects. The teenagers that were engaged in less gaming and social media interaction demonstrated less anxiety and depression problems. Adolescents that were involved in more gaming and social media interactions showed increased depressive symptoms. Gender results indicated that male non-social gamers had more anxiety, whereas their female counterparts showed less rejection and anxiety. This resource will be useful in showing the gender disparities among teenage gamers and social media enthusiasts.  

Garcia-Oliva, C., & Piqueras, J. A. (2016). Experiential avoidance and technological addictions in adolescents.

Journal of behavioral addictions

Garcia-Oliva and other researchers undertook a study to determine the relationship between experiential avoidance (EA) and technology among adolescents. The researchers wanted to determine the associations of depression and anxiety patterns among adolescents and their problematic ICT use. They administered an EA questionnaire to 317 students of Southeast Spain between 12 to 18 years. The authors collected information on how these respondents interacted with ICT gadgets and systems, particularly gaming and social media. Their questionnaire checked five key personality traits that included the problematic usage of the internet, video games, and mobile phones. The study results showed linear regression and correlation of EA in adolescents' addictive use of the internet. The boys were more involved in the problematic use of the internet, video games, and mobile phones, thus showing more severe anxiety and depression. The study will be useful in constructing EA models of addictive gaming or internet use behaviors among adolescents. 

Kelly, Y., Zilanawala, A., Booker, C., & Sacker, A. (2018). Social media use and adolescent mental health: Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. EClinicalMedicine, 6, 59-68.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2018.12.005. 

Kelly and other researchers based their research on the general misunderstanding in the association of mental health with adolescents' actions in engaging online gaming and social media use. Their research sought to assess whether the association of adolescents’ depressive symptoms with social media use. They also sought to investigate the several potential explanatory online gaming pathways and social media use harassment, self-esteem, and sleep among teenagers. The researchers used data on 10 904 teenagers 14 years from the United Kingdom (UK) Millennium Cohort. Using multivariate path models and regression, they examined associations among social media users and depressive symptoms. Their findings showed that adolescent girls were more affected in showing depressive symptoms and social media use than boys. Moreover, they found that greater social media use and online gaming led to more online harassment, poor sleep patterns, and low self-image. As a result, the teenagers engaged in the activities that spent more time gaming and social media use suffered more depression and anxiety. The article shows potential pitfalls of teenagers using social media on their mental health. 

  Li, X., Buxton, O. M., Lee, S., Chang, A.-M., Berger, L. M., & Hale, L. (2019). Sleep mediates the association between adolescent screen time and depressive symptoms. Sleep medicine , 57, 51-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2019.01.029. 

This source is an article on the pro side for gaming, leading to depression and anxiety among teenagers but on the contradictory side as social media involvement. Their study aimed to check sleep as mediation in the association between adolescent screen time and depressive symptoms. The authors examined how screen-based activities such as gaming and social media involvement teenagers. They also investigated whether insomnia symptoms and sleep duration could mediate the associations. They used surveys of 2895 adolescents who completed responses on their sleep duration and insomnias symptoms about their gaming and social media activities. The surveys checked the adolescents' durations on social messaging, online gaming, and web surfing with depressive symptoms or anxiety. The study's outcome shows that screen time and depressive symptoms were evident among teenagers that spend most time gaming. However, the authors conclude that sleep behaviors are a potential solution and remedy reducing depressive symptoms among adolescents. These outcomes can explain the effects and solutions of gaming and social media on teenagers in the research paper. 

Pluhar, E., Kavanaugh, J. R., Levinson, J. A., & Rich, M. (2019). Problematic interactive media use in teens: comorbidities, assessment, and treatment.

Psychology research and behavior management

Emily Pluhar and her colleagues, who are all affiliated with working on the internet and interactive media disorders, sought to determine the cause of increasing cases of anxiety among adolescents. Their study aimed to determine the possibility of gaming affecting teenagers’ levels of depression and anxiety. The authors used dialectical therapy and group therapy methods to monitor, interview, and interact with 28 teenagers, 14 males, and 14 females. Among the 28, 5 were non-gamers while the rest used social media and engaged in gaming regularly. Their findings indicate a strong positive correlation between the time spent on gaming or social media and showing the signs of depression and anxiety among adolescents between ages 13 to 17 years of age. They noted that teens that played video games for longer than four hours in the night had more likelihood of suffering depression than those who played less. They explain that gaming anxiety and depression among teens could be alleviated if teens have strong networking circles and engaged in more socialization. Their study can help compare other teens' control that spends more than four hours chatting with friends on social media. 

Wang, H.-Z., Sheng, J.-R., & Wang, J.-L. (2019). The association between gaming addiction and depression, social anxiety, and rejection.

Frontiers in public health

Wang and his colleagues are experts in mental health education in the school of psychology in China. They engaged in a study to determine the association between the adolescents’ gaming addiction and repression, rejection, and anxiety. The study was premised on the changing environment for young people due to rapid technological development that has led to gaming addiction among several adolescents leading to anxiety. The researchers collected data on adolescents in grades 7, 8, and 9 in a junior high school in Junior high school in Guizhou province. They administered surveys to the youngsters with the consent of their parents and or caregivers. Their survey used several measures that included gaming addiction, depression, child rejection, and child anxiety scales. The study results showed positive correlations between the descriptive statistics and the zero-order correlations in the study variables of 0.18 to 0.46 for all the rankings. The authors conclude a direct relation between gaming addiction with depression, rejection, and anxiety among adolescents. The study will be used to support the assertion of adolescents addicted to mobile gaming suffering more anxiety. 

Wartberg, L., Kriston, L., & Thomasius, R. (2020). Internet gaming disorder and problematic social media use in a representative sample of German adolescents: Prevalence estimates, comorbid depressive symptoms, and related psychosocial aspects.

Computers in Human Behavior

Wartberg and the team were out to delve into the cause of internet gaming disorder and problematic social media on German adolescents. In their study, the authors compare the effects of gaming addiction and social media activities with permanent conditions of anxiety and depression in adolescents. The researchers collected data on 1001 adolescents ages 12 -17 (518 boys and 483 girls) through surveys checking the depressive symptoms and psychosocial effects of gaming. Using bivariate logistic analyses, the researchers studied the levels of interpersonal trust and depressive symptoms among the sample under study. Their findings indicate that the depressive symptoms were rare but possible, especially among youngsters who spent more time gaming and social media activities. The addictive behaviors of gaming and addiction to social media engagements increase the fear, sadness, and low spirits among adolescents. The study explains the overlapping differences in confidence intervals in parameter estimates in behavior patterns among adolescents.  

References 

Carras, M. C., Rooij, A. J., Mheen, D. V., Musci, R., Xue, Q.-L., & Mendelson, T. (2017). Video gaming in a hyperconnected world: A cross-sectional study of heavy gaming, problematic gaming symptoms, and online socializing in adolescents. Computers in Human Behavior , 68, 472-479.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.060. 

Garcia-Oliva, C., & Piqueras, J. A. (2016). Experiential avoidance and technological addictions in adolescents. Journal of behavioral addictions , 5(2), 293-303.https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.5.2016.041. 

Kelly, Y., Zilanawala, A., Booker, C., & Sacker, A. (2018). Social media use and adolescent mental health: Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. EClinicalMedicine, 6, 59-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2018.12.005. 

  Li, X., Buxton, O. M., Lee, S., Chang, A.-M., Berger, L. M., & Hale, L. (2019). Sleep mediates the association between adolescent screen time and depressive symptoms. Sleep medicine , 57, 51-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2019.01.029. 

Pluhar, E., Kavanaugh, J. R., Levinson, J. A., & Rich, M. (2019). Problematic interactive media use in teens: comorbidities, assessment, and treatment. Psychology research and behavior management , 12, 47. https://dx.doi.org/10.2147%2FPRBM.S208968. 

Wang, H.-Z., Sheng, J.-R., & Wang, J.-L. (2019). The association between gaming addiction and depression, social anxiety, and rejection. Frontiers in public health , 7, 247.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2019.00247. 

Wartberg, L., Kriston, L., & Thomasius, R. (2020). Internet gaming disorder and problematic social media use in a representative sample of German adolescents: Prevalence estimates, comorbid depressive symptoms, and related psychosocial aspects. Computers in Human Behavior , 103, 31-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.014.