Background: The intensive use of social media among adolescents has caused concern about its impact on their mental health, but studies show that social media use is linked to both better and worse mental health. These seemingly contradictory findings may result from the diverse motivations, interactions, and experiences related to social media use, and studies investigating specific facets of social media use in relation to mental health and well-being, beyond general usage metrics, have been called for. Aspects of self-presentation on social media, such as feedback-seeking and upwards social comparison have been linked to worse mental health, however, there is a need for more studies exploring the relationship between self-presentation on social media and adolescent mental health over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Public Health
September 2024
Background: Social media use, perfectionism, and disordered eating have all increased over the last decades. Some studies indicate that there is a relationship between self-presentation behaviors and being exposed to others' self-presentation on social media, and disordered eating. Studies also show that the relationship between focus on self-presentation and highly visual social media is stronger than for non-visual social media, hence facilitating upward social comparison.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Previous approaches used to assess problematic social media use risk inflating prevalence numbers and classifying unproblematic social media use as problematic. The main aim of this study was to take an exploratory view as to how different types of activities, experiences, and motivations on social media are associated with problematic mental health outcomes in adolescents.
Patients And Methods: This study is based on a cross-sectional survey of 2023 adolescents (mean age 17.
Front Public Health
June 2023
Introduction: Cyberbullying has been extensively studied and is associated with adverse mental health outcomes in adolescents. However, adolescents may also experience a range of other negative experiences, such as name-calling, threats, exclusion, and unwanted attention or contact from others. Few studies have investigated how adolescents' mental health is affected by these relatively common and less severe types of negative experiences on social media (SOME).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adolescents' presence on Social Media (SoMe) facilitates peer connections making them susceptible to peer-influences and approval. Negative experiences on SoMe can affect adolescent stress and wellbeing, impelling their use of alcohol. This paper provides a novel understanding of the relationship between negative experiences on SoMe and key indicators of alcohol use in adolescents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Social media use is part of everyday life for adolescents. Over the last decade, concerns about the potential negative effects of social media use on mental health and well-being has been raised. Possible positive effects of social media use have to a lesser extent been explored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUpward social comparison and aspects of self-presentation on social media such as feedback-seeking and strategic self-presentation may represent risk factors for experiencing negative mental health effects of social media use. The aim of this exploratory study was to assess how adolescents differ in upward social comparison and aspects of self-presentation on social media and whether these differences are linked to sociodemographic variables, lifestyle, or personality. The study was based on cross-sectional data from the "LifeOnSoMe" study performed in Bergen, Norway, including 2023 senior high school pupils (response rate 54%, mean age 17.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Public Health
July 2022
Objectives: To investigate the association between subjective socioeconomic status (SES) and a) frequency and daily duration of social media use, and b) self-reported negative experiences on social media platforms.
Methods: The present study is based on the cross-sectional school-based "LifeOnSoMe"-study ( = 3,415) recruiting high school students aged 16 years or more in Bergen, Norway. Subjective SES was the independent variable and measured by perceived family affluence.
Social media (SoMe) activity constitutes a large part of the lives of adolescents. Even though the behavior on SoMe is complex, the research on SoMe has mostly focused on negative effects, bad content, and online antisocial behavior (OAB). Less research has been conducted on online prosocial behavior (OPB), and to what extent OPBs are widespread is relatively unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBright light treatment is an effective way to influence circadian rhythms in healthy adults, but previous research with dementia patients has yielded mixed results. The present study presents a primary outcome of the DEM.LIGHT trial, a 24-week randomized controlled trial conducted at nursing homes in Bergen, Norway, investigating the effects of a bright light intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe extent of mental health problems among adolescents seems to be on the rise, and this observed trend has often been linked to a coinciding increase in social media use. The goal of the current preliminary study was to investigate how senior high school personnel experience the role of social media in relation to the mental health of their pupils. Two focus group interviews (total n = 11) were completed and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, resulting in 4 themes and 11 subthemes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The majority of people with dementia have behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), including depression, anxiety and agitation. These may be elicited or aggravated by disrupted circadian rhythms. Bright light treatment (BLT) is a promising non-pharmacological approach to the management of BPSD, but previous research has yielded mixed results.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: During the last decade, social media has permeated most parts of society. Adolescents are particularly active users of social media, and their use has been suggested as a contributing factor to mental health issues in this group. Quantitative studies have found associations between the frequency and/or duration of social media use and more mental health issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
March 2021
Social media (SOME) use among adolescents has been linked to mental health and well-being. SOME self-presentation has been highlighted as an important factor to better understand the potential links. The aims of this study were to investigate the association between focus on SOME self-presentation and mental health and quality of life among adolescents.
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