Bowri, Maya;
(2021)
Motivations for social media use in adolescents and their association with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Doctoral thesis (D.Clin.Psy), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Aims: This study sought to explore associations between adolescents’ motivations for social media use and common mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: British secondary school students aged 11-17 (N = 162) completed an online questionnaire covering demographics, social media use including motivations for use, and symptoms of depression, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety. Multiple linear regression was used to explore associations between individual use motive and mental health symptoms scores in social media users (N = 142). In addition, latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to categorise users into homogenous profiles based on their pattern of use motives, and multinomial logistic regression used to explore associations between extracted profiles and symptoms scores. Results: Motivation to use social media for entertainment predicted higher symptom scores across all three mental health categories: depression (β = 1.41, 95% CI [0.75, 2.06], p < .001), GAD (β = 0.96, 95% CI [0.46, 1.45], p < .001) and social anxiety (β = 1.69, 95% CI [0.98, 2.41], p < .001). In addition, motivation to follow/monitor others on social media was associated with higher symptoms of social anxiety (β = 0.90, 95% CI [0.29, 1.50], p = .004). Finally, the LPA identified four distinct social media motivation profiles, which were labelled high-motivation-dating, high-motivation-social, low motivation and intermediate motivation. Greater levels of social anxiety predicted membership to both high motivation profiles compared to the low motivation profile: high-motivation-dating (RRR = 1.19, 95% CI [1.05, 1.35], p = .006) and high-motivation-social (RRR = 1.17, 95% CI [1.06, 1.29], p = .002). Conclusions: The findings suggest that elevated social media use for the purpose of entertainment may be a trans-diagnostic / general feature of common mental health difficulties in adolescence. Furthermore, social anxiety may be a driver and/or consequence of motivation to use social media for entertainment and to fulfil interpersonal motives (e.g. following others). These findings have potential implications for the development of interventions aimed to modify adolescents’ relationship with social media, and/or the identification of individuals who may be at higher risk of developing mental health difficulties. However, future longitudinal research is needed to identify the underlying direction of causality.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | D.Clin.Psy |
| Title: | Motivations for social media use in adolescents and their association with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2021. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10134649 |
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