Social Media: Friend or Foe to Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors

  • Kaylee Fishback University of Windsor

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents relied on technology for their education and for communication with friends and family (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020). With the recency of the pandemic, there has not been an abundance of research on the effects of increased internet and social media use on adolescent mental health. This study examined how the frequency of adolescents’ social media use is associated with depression rates during the pandemic by using a longitudinal design. Participants included 351 adolescents, aged 14-19, residing in Ontario, Canada, who completed two surveys six months apart from each other. The findings indicated that, in line with the hypotheses, females engaged in more social media use and experienced greater depression than males. Regression analyses further revealed that Time 1 social media use significantly predicted Time 2 depression in females only.

Downloads

Published

2023-12-19

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 3 (2023): Special Issue / Numéro Spécial

Section

Research Study/Recherche

License

  • Manuscripts submitted to CJNSE/RCJCÉ must be original work that has not been published elsewhere, nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere. The author should confirm this in the cover letter sent with the manuscript.
  • Articles that are published within the CJNSE/RCJCÉ must not be published elsewhere, in whole or part, for one year after publication.
  • Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings. Granting the CJNSE/RCJCÉ first publication rights must be in the cover letter sent with the manuscript.
  • If the manuscript contains copyrighted materials, the author should note this in the cover letter sent with the manuscript, and indicate when letters of permission will be forwarded to the Editor.
  • If the manuscript reports on research with “human subjects,” the author should include a statement in the cover letter that ethics approval has been received for the research, indicating the granting body and protocol number if applicable.
  • Authors are encouraged to use language that is inclusive and culturally sensitive.