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The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults.

ABSTRACT: During the COVID-19 pandemic, young people have been exposed to distressing content about COVID-19 without knowing whether they can trust such content. This indicates a need to examine the effects of social media use on mental health and well-being. Existing research provides an inconsistent impression of such effects. Thus, we examined the relation between exposure to COVID-19 information on social media and well-being and assessed if trust in COVID-19 information on social media moderated this relationship. The sample consisted of 168 adolescents and young adults from the U.K. and U.S. (Mage = 17.4 years). Participants completed measures of exposure to, and trust in, COVID-19 information on social media platforms, and measures of emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Results revealed a null to positive relation between exposure to COVID-19 information on social media and well-being across measures. However, when trust was added to the models as a moderator, results indicated that, for adolescents with higher levels of trust in COVID-19 information found on social media, the relation between information encountered on social media and well-being was positive. In contrast, for adolescents with lower levels of trust, the association between information encountered on social media and well-being was null or sometimes negative. Given the lack of consensus about the impact of social media use on well-being, these results point to the importance of trust when assessing the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 information and well-being.

SUBMITTER: Hoffman AJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10035839 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults.

Hoffman Adam J AJ McGuire Luke L Mathews Channing J CJ Joy Angelina A Law Fidelia F Drews Marc M Rutland Adam A Hartstone-Rose Adam A Winterbottom Mark M Mulvey Kelly Lynn KL

PloS one 20230323 3

During the COVID-19 pandemic, young people have been exposed to distressing content about COVID-19 without knowing whether they can trust such content. This indicates a need to examine the effects of social media use on mental health and well-being. Existing research provides an inconsistent impression of such effects. Thus, we examined the relation between exposure to COVID-19 information on social media and well-being and assessed if trust in COVID-19 information on social media moderated this ...[more]

PMID: 36952559

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Project description:BackgroundSeveral large-scale studies and reviews have reported both negative and positive associations of social media use with well-being, suggesting that the findings are more complex and need more nuanced study. Moreover, there is little or no exploration of how social media use in adolescence influences flourishing, a more all-encompassing construct beyond well-being, including six sub-domains (i.e., happiness, meaning and purpose, physical and mental health, character, close social relationships, and financial stability). This paper aims to fill this gap by understanding how adolescents might flourish through social media activities by fulfilling the basic needs pointed out by the Self-Determination Theory, i.e., relatedness, autonomy, and competence.MethodsThe study is drawn on cross-sectional data collected from 1,429 Swiss adolescents (58.8% females, Mage = 15.84, SDage = 0.83) as part of the HappyB project in Spring 2022. Self-reported measures included the Harvard Adolescent Flourishing scale, positive and negative online social experiences, self-disclosure on social media, and social media inspiration. Control variables included, among others, self-esteem, ill-being, and personality.ResultsAfter applying Bonferroni's correction, results of the hierarchical regression analyses showed that positive social media experiences (β = 0.112, p < 0.001) and social media inspirations from others (β = 0.072, p < 0.001) and for others (β = 0.060, p = 0.003) were positively associated with flourishing. Flourishing was inversely associated with negative social media experiences (β = -0.076, p < 0.001). Among covariates, self-esteem (β = 0.350, p < 0.001), ill-being (β = -0.252, p < 0.001), perceived school environment (β = 0.138, p < 0.001), self-reported level of physical activity (β =0.109, p < 0.001), and perceived socio-economic status (β = -0.059, p = 0.001) were all related to flourishing. In contrast, gender, high school year, age, perceived stress, and personality (extraversion and neuroticism) were not.ConclusionUsing a well-being framework to investigate social media use in adolescents is needed to go beyond the ill-being perspective. Our results align with the needs pointed out by the Self-Determination Theory. Carrying out social media activities in a way that promotes-rather than diminishes-flourishing should be included as an additional good habit influencing adolescents' development. We suggest that interventions aiming to foster adolescents' flourishing should include curricula aiming to promote a good use of social media through positive online social relationships and inspirational contents.

Project description:BackgroundDuring the last decade, social media has permeated most parts of society. Adolescents are particularly active users of social media, and their use has been suggested as a contributing factor to mental health issues in this group. Quantitative studies have found associations between the frequency and/or duration of social media use and more mental health issues. However, most studies are cross-sectional and the identified associations are weak and of questionable practical significance. The aim of this study was to investigate adolescents' lived experiences of using social media, focusing on both negative and positive aspects, using a qualitative approach. Qualitative research enables in-depth explorations of the experiences of individuals, nuance quantitative findings, and offer the perspective of adolescents into policies regarding social media use.MethodsExperiences and perspectives of 27 adolescents from two senior high schools in Norway were gathered using focus group interviews (mean age 16.8, range 15-18). The data were analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsAccording to the participants, social media use catalyse changes to how people communicate and relate to each other (theme 1). Some changes were positive, in terms of facilitating social connectedness, while others were negative, such as people behaving worse than in face-to-face interactions. Further, social media use affected the participants at the individual level (theme 2); positively in terms of a sense of belonging and social support, and negatively in terms of perceived stress, body pressure, and displacing other activities such as sleep and homework. The motivations for using, or not using, social media were multifaceted (theme 3), reflecting the positive and negative aspects of social media in terms of interpersonal and personal consequences.ConclusionSocial media was described as an important part of the participants' everyday life, with both a positive and negative impact on their mental health and well-being. Considering the compelling nature of social media and adolescents' relatively limited self-regulatory capacities, efforts to modify social media use should avoid relying on self-regulation, while also recognizing the importance of social media as an arena for peer interaction.

Project description:Introduction: Social media has become an integrated part of daily life, with an estimated 3 billion social media users worldwide. Adolescents and young adults are the most active users of social media. Research on social media has grown rapidly, with the potential association of social media use and mental health and well-being becoming a polarized and much-studied subject. The current body of knowledge on this theme is complex and difficult-to-follow. The current paper presents a scoping review of the published literature in the research field of social media use and its association with mental health and well-being among adolescents. Methods and Analysis: First, relevant databases were searched for eligible studies with a vast range of relevant search terms for social media use and mental health and well-being over the past five years. Identified studies were screened thoroughly and included or excluded based on prior established criteria. Data from the included studies were extracted and summarized according to the previously published study protocol. Results: Among the 79 studies that met our inclusion criteria, the vast majority (94%) were quantitative, with a cross-sectional design (57%) being the most common study design. Several studies focused on different aspects of mental health, with depression (29%) being the most studied aspect. Almost half of the included studies focused on use of non-specified social network sites (43%). Of specified social media, Facebook (39%) was the most studied social network site. The most used approach to measuring social media use was frequency and duration (56%). Participants of both genders were included in most studies (92%) but seldom examined as an explanatory variable. 77% of the included studies had social media use as the independent variable. Conclusion: The findings from the current scoping review revealed that about 3/4 of the included studies focused on social media and some aspect of pathology. Focus on the potential association between social media use and positive outcomes seems to be rarer in the current literature. Amongst the included studies, few separated between different forms of (inter)actions on social media, which are likely to be differentially associated with mental health and well-being outcomes.

Project description:BackgroundThere is some evidence that more social media use is related to poorer mental well-being and that social media use can become problematic when it starts to interfere with a person's daily life and mental well-being. To address this issue and improve users' mental well-being, social media use interventions (eg, abstinence from social media) have been developed and evaluated. However, there is limited understanding of the effectiveness of these interventions in improving mental well-being.ObjectiveThis systematic review aimed to synthesize the literature on the effectiveness of social media use interventions in improving mental well-being in adults.MethodsA systematic search (January 1, 2004, to July 31, 2022) was completed across 3 databases in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Experimental studies evaluating the impact of social media use interventions on mental well-being in adults were included. Outcomes related to mental well-being, such as depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness, were included. A narrative synthesis without meta-analysis was completed to summarize the study characteristics and effectiveness by outcome and intervention type. The Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool was used to measure the quality of the studies.ResultsOf the 2785 studies identified through the systematic search, 23 (0.83%) were included in the analysis. Many of the included studies (9/23, 39%) found improvements in mental well-being, some (7/23, 30%) found mixed effects, and others (7/23, 30%) found no effect on mental well-being. Therapy-based interventions that used techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy were more effective than limiting use of social media or full abstinence from social media, with 83% (5/6) of these studies showing improvements in mental well-being compared with 20% (1/5) and 25% (3/12), respectively. Depression was the most frequently investigated and improved outcome with 70% (7/10) of the studies showing a significant improvement in depression after the intervention, whereas other outcomes showed more varied results. Quality was poor, with 96% (22/23) of the studies receiving a weak global score, mostly for issues related to selection bias because most of the studies (16/23, 70%) used a convenience sampling of university students.ConclusionsThis review provides some evidence that social media use interventions are effective in improving mental well-being, especially for depression and when using therapy-based interventions. Further experimental and longitudinal research is needed with representative samples to investigate who may benefit most from social media use interventions. This will help to develop guidance and recommendations for policy makers and clinicians on how best to manage problematic social media use.

Dataset Information

The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults.

Publications

The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults.

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