Mental health affects how networks are used

MADRID (EFE).— Young people with some type of mental disorder spend more time on social media and also use it differently than those without, especially those who suffer from anxiety and depression, according to a study from the University of Cambridge.

These young people, who spend an average of 50 minutes more per day on social media, are more likely to compare themselves with others in this environment, feel less able to control the time they spend on these platforms, and are more vulnerable to the comments and likes they receive.

The study is based on information from clinical mental health assessments and data from a survey conducted by NHS Digital (the agency responsible for providing information on digital use to the National Health Service in England) of 3,340 adolescents and young people aged 11 to 19 in the United Kingdom.

The research, published yesterday in Nature Human Behavior, is one of the first to evaluate social media use among adolescents and combine this information with data from clinical mental health assessments.

“The relationship between social media use and young people's mental health is hotly debated, but almost no studies focus on young people who already suffer from clinical mental health symptoms,” warns Luisa Fassi, a Cambridge researcher and lead author of the paper.

“This study shows that young people with mental health conditions use social media differently than young people without,” which “could be because mental health conditions influence how adolescents interact with the platforms, or perhaps because social media use contributes to their symptoms. At this point, we can't say which comes first, only that these differences exist,” Fassi acknowledges.

“Friendships are crucial during adolescence, as they shape the development of identity,” but on social media, friendships are numbered, “which makes social comparisons more striking,” she explains.

“And for young people struggling with mental health issues, this can exacerbate existing feelings of rejection or isolation,” he notes.

The study analyzed differences in social media use between young people with "internalizing" disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, which cause internal emotional distress that may be invisible to others, and "externalizing" disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which manifest in behaviors that affect those around them.

Most of the differences in social media use were reported by young people with internalizing disorders. For example, “social comparison” with others was twice as high among adolescents with these disorders (48%, approximately one in two) as among those without mental disorders (24%, approximately one in four).

Adolescents with internalizing disorders were also more likely to report mood swings in response to social media comments (28%, about 1 in 4) compared to those without mental disorders (13%, about 1 in 8).

They also reported lower levels of self-control over the time they spent on social media and were less willing to be honest about their emotional state when online.

“Some of the differences in how young people with anxiety and depression use social media reflect what we already know about their offline experiences. Social comparison is a well-documented part of these young people's everyday lives, and our study shows that this pattern extends to their online world as well.”

But "there are many factors that can lead to someone developing a mental health disorder, and it's very difficult to determine if social media use is one of them," he adds.

“We need to understand how different types of social media content and activities affect young people with a range of mental health conditions, such as those living with eating disorders, ADHD, or depression. Without including these understudied groups, we risk missing the full picture.”