An exploratory study of clinical and physiological correlates of problematic social media use in adolescents

•Problematic social media use in adolescents is a common clinical concern.•This study examined potential risk factors of problematic social media use.•Depression symptom severity was associated with increased risk.•Depressed females may have an increased risk of problematic social media use.•Elevate...

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Published inPsychiatry research Vol. 302; p. 114020
Main Authors Shafi, Reem M.A., Nakonezny, Paul A., Miller, Keith A., Desai, Jinal, Almorsy, Ammar G., Ligezka, Anna N., Morath, Brooke A., Romanowicz, Magdalena, Croarkin, Paul E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.08.2021
Subjects
Addiction
Adolescent
Cortisol
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Hydrocortisone
Internet Addiction Disorder
Problematic social media use
Self Concept
Social Media
α-amylase
MINI-KID
Social media
BSMAS
QIDS-A17-SR
Cortisol
RESES
MDD
Problematic social media use
α-amylase
Addiction
Adolescent
SMU
QIDS-A17-C
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Summary:•Problematic social media use in adolescents is a common clinical concern.•This study examined potential risk factors of problematic social media use.•Depression symptom severity was associated with increased risk.•Depressed females may have an increased risk of problematic social media use.•Elevated cortisol was associated with problematic use in adolescents. Prior validation studies of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) demonstrate its utility for identifying problematic social media use in adolescents. There are knowledge gaps regarding the potential clinical and physiological underpinnings of problematic social media use in adolescents. This cross-sectional, single-visit study examined a sample of depressed (n = 30) and healthy (n = 30) adolescents who underwent clinical assessments of depressive symptom severity, bullying, cyberbullying, self-esteem, salivary measures of stress (cortisol and α-amylase) to identify correlates with adolescent and parental reports of the BSMAS. LASSO-penalized multiple linear regression models were implemented. With respect to the adolescent BSMAS scores in all subjects, the risk of problematic social media increased as depressive symptom severity increased. Depressed female adolescents appeared to have a greater risk. Based on parental BSMAS scores, depression status, depressive symptom severity, cyberbullying score, and salivary cortisol significantly predicted problematic social media use. For the depressed sample, the risk of problematic social media use increased as salivary cortisol increased. No significant predictors of problematic social media usage emerged in the healthy control sample. These preliminary results provide novel insights into clinical and physiological characteristics of problematic social media use in adolescents.
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Dr Croarkin has received research grant support from Pfizer, Inc; equipment support from Neuronetics, Inc. He has received supplies and genotyping services from Assurex Health, Inc for investigator-initiated studies. He has received equipment support from Neuronetics, Inc and MagVenture, Inc for investigator-initiated studies. He was the primary investigator for a multicenter study funded by Neuronetics, Inc and a site primary investigator for a study funded by NeoSync, Inc. Dr Croarkin has served as a consultant for Procter & Gamble Company, Myriad Neuroscience, Sunovion, and Engrail Therapeutics. The other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.
Reem M.A. Shafi: Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing. Paul A. Nakonezny: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Supervision, Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Keith A. Miller: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing-review and editing. Jinal Desai: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing-review and editing. Ammar G. Almorsy: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing-review and editing. Anna N. Ligezka: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing-review and editing. Brooke A. Morath: Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing-review and editing. Magdalena Romanowicz: Conceptualization, Project Administration, Supervision, Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing. Paul E. Croarkin: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Supervision, Writing-original draft, Writing, review and editing.
Authors Disclosure Statement
ISSN:0165-1781
1872-7123
1872-7123
DOI:10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114020