By Iris Smith, Ph.D., M.P.H.
The Data
Data from the 2019 Youth Behavior Risk Surveillance System (YRBSS) indicate that suicide attempts among youth increased from 6.3% in 2009 to 8.9% in 2019, with 18.8% of youth (1 in 5) having seriously considered suicide in the 12 months before the survey.1 Suicide is now the second leading cause of death in high school youth, ages 14-18. Use of social media, particularly social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat have been implicated as contributing causes to the rising rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal behaviors. Among adolescents ages 13-17, 97% use at least one of seven SNS platforms: YouTube (85%), Instagram (72%), Snapchat (69%), Facebook (51%), Twitter (32%), Tumblr (9%), or Reddit (7%).2
During the past two years, use of SNS has increased as a result of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has raised concerns about the negative effects of limited opportunities for face-to-face interpersonal interactions, online bullying, negative social pressure, and addiction-like behaviors.3 However, despite a proliferation of research studies examining the relationship between social media use and adolescent mental health, findings have been inconsistent and inconclusive.
“Weak” and “Inconclusive” Conclusions
A review of 42 research studies published between 2011 and 2019 by Vidal et al. (2020) concluded that most studies demonstrated a positive and bi-directional association between the use of SNS and depression and suicidality. Problematic use was associated with a variety of psychosocial outcomes including depression and SNS “addiction” among females. An “umbrella” review of reviews by Valkenburg and Beyens (2021) found considerable variability in terminology and interpretation of statistical findings with little attention to individual differences and environmental factors. Outcome variables such as “well-being” and “mental health” often were not well defined and positive associations were frequently “weak” or “inconsistent” across studies, making it difficult to draw conclusions.
Are there some benefits to SNS use?
It is worth noting that SNS use may also have beneficial effects on adolescent well-being, such as easily accessed support and diversity of friendships. The content of SNS posts also afford an opportunity to identify symptoms of distress that might otherwise go undetected. The use of online safety monitoring programs such as the Bark Online Safety Tool which is used in more than 2600 school districts in the U.S. have been used to “flag” content suggesting imminent self-harm.4
Resources
1 Ivey-Stephenson AZ, Demissie Z, Crosby AE, Sstone DM, Gaylor E, Wilkins N, Lowry R, Brown M. (2020). Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors Among High School Students – Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2019. Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR) 60(1); U.S. Dept. of Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
2 Vidal C, Lhaksampa T, Miller L, Platt R. (2020).Social Media Use and Depression in Adolescents: A Scoping Review. Int Rev Psychiatry 2020 May; 32(3); pg. 235-253.
3 IBID
4 Sumner SA, Ferguson B, Bason B, Dink J, Yard E, Hertz M, Hilkert B, Holland K, Mercado-Crespo, Tang S, Jones CM (2021). Association of Online Risk Factors with Subsequent Youth Suicide-Related Behaviors in the US. Jama Network Open 2021;4(9): e2125860. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34542614/
