Introduction
What evidence is there for an association between screen and/or social media usage and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents? Overall, the research evidence that there is indeed a positive association between several types of screen usage and childhood/adolescent depressive symptoms. However, some studies were unable to identify a clear correlation between certain, specific types of media use and these same symptoms and others still suggested that gender might play a role in the association. Therefore, associations relied a great deal on what type of media usage was being considered and who was using it in regard to depressive symptoms in adolescence.
Amount of Exposure and Type
Much of the research analyzed indeed suggested a positive association between the amount of screen time and depressive symptoms in adolescence and childhood. Houghton (2018) collected data from approximately 1,800 adolescents (aged 10-17) at six different periods over the course of two years. The adolescents self-reported their own depression symptoms, the amount of time they spent on screens and what activities they did when using the screens. Houghton and his team found a modest positive association between screen use and depressive symptoms after the two years. They also found a small, positive association for the reciprocal (i.e. that depressive symptoms predicted higher levels of screen use later on as well), which could indicate that while media use might predict depressive symptoms later on, media is something that adolescents are turning to more often if they are depressed. Despite these findings, there wasn’t enough support for a longitudinal association (via a Random Intercept Cross Lagged Panel Model) here.
Grøntved (2015), on the other hand, conducted a longitudinal study and was able to provide this type of association with regards to TV-viewing and depressive symptoms. He studied around 500 15-year-olds adolescents, collecting data from them first in 1997-1998 and then again six years later. Half participated in a 12-year follow-up well. Depressive symptoms were assessed on the MDI scale while TV and computer time were self-reported. His team concluded that each additional hour of TV-viewing was associated with greater odds of mild, moderate or severe depression in young adulthood. Primack (2009) conducted a similar study and also found that each additional hour of daily television in youth increased the odds of developing depression later on, but found that “computer use” had no effect on these odds. Ferguson (2017) studied media exposure in children as well but found that only excessive usage led to increased depressive symptoms in childhood and adolescence. This perhaps coincides with a hypothesized media theory called “The Goldilocks Effect” that states that too little or too much exposure might have negative effects, but ‘just the right amount’ is perfectly fine and in fact, beneficial to developing minds.
Despite this evidence for a positive association, there are studies that have found no association between depressive symptoms and frequency of technology use. Nesi (2015) cites at least two of these studies; Davila (2012) and Jelenchick (2013) both found no association between amount of media exposure and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, in Merritt’s (2016) study of youth aged 10-14, she found that violent video games and violent television (two types of media frequently criticized for its possible harmful psychological effects on children) did not predict anxiety or depression in her sample when they were surveyed again a year later. These conflicting results lead to a very ambiguous conclusion about amount of exposure and later depressive symptoms. Perhaps then, gender is what we must look to in trying to interpret these results.
Gender
Several studies indeed found that gender differences had an effect on whether or not media exposure increased depressive symptoms. Perhaps the most interesting research that examined gender differences in media use and adolescent psychological problems was done by Ohannessian (2009). The primary goal of her study of around 300 14- to 16- year-olds was to determine whether gender differences were present in type of media absorbed by these adolescents and later psychological problems. These adolescents were surveyed initially and then again one year later. She found that higher media consumption as a sort of protection for boys, but it did the opposite for girls. That is, boys that spent more time watching TV and playing video games had lower levels of psychological problems, while girls who spent more time watching TV and playing video games had higher levels of psychological problems. Nesi (2015) specifically studied using media platforms for social comparison/feedback seeding and later depressive symptoms, with gender a variable that she accounted for. She queried around 600 students initially and then again one year later. In girls, she found a strong positive association between media use for feedback seeking and social comparison, while the association was smaller for boys.
Primack (2009) studied gender differences, electronic media exposure and depressive symptoms seven years after his initial survey of around 4000 adolescents. His findings, however, contradict that of Ohannessian. He found that girls were actually less likely to develop anxiety or depression given the same amount of total exposure as boys. Further still, several studies found gender didn’t play a role at all in determining whether media exposure led to later depressive symptoms. Pantic (2012) studied the association between online social networking and depression in around 160 high school students. Keeping in mind that online social networking was the main method of social comparison and feedback seeking that Nesi (2015) researched, Pantic found that there was no gender difference when it came to associating psychological problems with media use, contradicting Nesi’s study. In the aforementioned study, Grøntved (2015) found no differences between gender either. With these conflicting results and no solid longitudinal study to analyze, an association between gender, media usage and later depressive symptoms is ambiguous.
Conclusion
Overall, most of the research suggests that there is at least a positive association between increased media exposure and having depressive symptoms later in adolescence. However, the presence of conflicting research that found no association make it difficult to decide which conclusion is more plausible. More research, especially that of the longitudinal variety, with larger sample sizes, less self-reporting and more variables, is needed before a definitive causal association between media use and depression can be made. Since a lot of the research was done on specific types of media as well, it’s impossible to blanketly declare that media usage and screen time ‘overall’ causes depression in children.
References
Ferguson, C. J. (2017). Everything in Moderation: Moderate Use of Screens Unassociated with Child Behavior Problems. Psychiatric Quarterly,88(4), 797-805. doi:10.1007/s11126-016-9486-3
Grøntved, A., Singhammer, J., Froberg, K., Møller, N. C., Pan, A., Pfeiffer, K. A., & Kristensen, P. L. (2015). A prospective study of screen time in adolescence and depression symptoms in young adulthood. Preventive Medicine,81, 108-113. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.08.009
Houghton, S., Lawrence, D., Hunter, S. C., Rosenberg, M., Zadow, C., Wood, L., & Shilton, T. (2018). Reciprocal Relationships between Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms and Screen Media Use during Adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence,47(11), 2453-2467. doi:10.1007/s10964-018-0901-y
Merritt, A., Laquea, R., Cromwell, R., & Ferguson, C. J. (2015). Media Managing Mood: A Look at the Possible Effects of Violent Media on Affect. Child & Youth Care Forum,45(2), 241-258. doi:10.1007/s10566-015-9328-8
Nesi, J., & Prinstein, M. J. (2015). Using Social Media for Social Comparison and Feedback-Seeking: Gender and Popularity Moderate Associations with Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology,43(8), 1427-1438. doi:10.1007/s10802-015-0020-0
Ohannessian, C. M. (2009). Media Use and Adolescent Psychological Adjustment: An Examination of Gender Differences. Journal of Child and Family Studies,18(5), 582-593. doi:10.1007/s10826-009-9261-2
Pantic, I., Damjanovic, A., Todorovic, J., Topalovica, D., Bojovic-Jovic, D., Ristic, S., & Pantic, S. (2012). Association between online social networking and depression in high school students: Behavioral physiology viewpoint. Psychiatria Danubina,24(1), 90-93. doi:28.12.2011
Primack, B. A., & Swanier, B. (2009). Association Between Media Use in Adolescence and Depression in Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study. Arch Gen Psychiatry,66(2), 181-188. doi:doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2008.532
SOPHIA PORTELLI 