Shieun Lee
I am Shieun Lee, MPH, PhD Candidate in Health Behavior in the Department of Applied Health Science, School of Public Health, Indiana University-Bloomington.
My research interests include social media use, emerging substance use, and mental health among youth. I have published seven papers in these areas and have taught “Drug Use in American Society” and “Stress Management” courses as an Associate Instructor while working on my doctoral program at IU. I would like to become a faculty member in a U.S. institution in the future.
EFFECT OF FREQUENT SOCIAL MEDIA USE ON INTERNALIZING MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS IN A REPRESENTATIVE PANEL SAMPLE OF U.S. ADOLESCENTS: A LATENT GROWTH CURV
Background: There are contradictory findings in the literature about the relationship between frequent social media use and mental health in youth.
Purpose: This study examined the relationship between frequent social media use and subsequent mental health in a longitudinal representative sample of U.S. adolescents.
Methods: Four waves (2013-2018) of nationally representative, longitudinal Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health data were analyzed. A total of 5,114 U.S. adolescents aged 12-14 years at baseline had repeated data across all waves. A series of sequential weighted single-group and multi-group latent growth curve models (LGCMs) were fit using R version 3.6.2.
Results: The percentage of frequent social media use was 26.4% at Wave 1 and 69.1% at Wave 4 for boys compared to 38.3% and 80.6% for girls (p < 0.001). Boys showed an improving (-0.218, p=0.005) but girls showed a deteriorating linear trend (0.229, p=0.028) for mental health at the full multi-group LGCM. Social media use accounted for mental health conditions across Wave 1 to 3 for boys (ps<0.01) but only at Wave 1 for girls (p=0.035). With the addition of the social media use variable alone, model fit dramatically improved. Substantial sex differences existed in baseline status, directionality, and shape of mental health growth trajectories as well as interplay of social media use with other factors such as alcohol use.
Conclusions: Social media use appears to affect adolescent mental health negatively and substantially. Sex-based intervention approaches are recommended to tackle mental health in adolescents.
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