Momentary associations between emotional responses to social media and affect: Consistency across global affect and specific emotional states

Social media (SM) is widely used among adolescents, making the relationship between SM and affect in this population important to understand. However, previous research has largely used methods that do not capture the dynamic and variable nature of SM or measure the consistency of effects across global affect and specific emotions. The current study examined the momentary relationship between positive and negative SM experiences and global positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), as well as specific affective states of PA and NA. Adolescents (N = 62; 14-17 years old) were recruited from SM platforms to participate in an eight-week ecological momentary assessment study. Participants reported three times per day on PA and NA and positive and negative SM experiences. Random intercept and random slope models were used to examine within-person associations between momentary positive and negative SM experiences and affect after controlling for between-person differences. At prompts when participants reported greater-than-usual positive SM experiences, they reported higher global PA and lower global NA. At prompts when participants reported greater than their average negative SM experiences, they endorsed lower global PA and higher global NA. These results were consistent across same-valence specific affective states. The current study highlights proximal associations between SM experiences and affect, highlighting potential avenues of short-term risk and protection

Positive and Negative Social Media Experiences and Proximal Risk for Suicidal Ideation in Adolescents

Background: Social media (SM) has received considerable attention as a potential risk factor for adolescent suicide. Few empirical studies, however, have examined adolescents’ daily negative and positive experiences on SM and its proximal impacts on suicidal ideation (SI), particularly using intensive monitoring designs. Method: Adolescents (N= 60; 14-17 years; 49% girls; 62% LGBTQ+) recruited using SM across the United States and participated in an 8-week intensive monitoring protocol. Ecological momentary assessment (3 brief surveys per day) asked about negative and positive SM experiences and SI (passive and active). Multilevel modeling was used to evaluate the within-person relationships between daily SM experiences (e.g., individual fluctuations compared to a person’s average) and SI, controlling for average levels of SM experiences, SM use screen time, and lifetime SI. Results: Significant within-person effects of negative and positive SM experiences were associated with days when adolescents had SI. Specifically, on days when teens endorsed more frequent negative SM experiences than usual, they were more likely to report SI. However, more positive SM experiences than usual were associated with a lower likelihood of having SI. There were no significant effects of SM use (“screen time”) on SI or on the reverse associations of SI on next-day SM experiences. Conclusions: Results indicate that SM experiences may be dynamic and modifiable risk and protective factors for SI in adolescents, whereas there is no effect of SM screen time on SI. Our results highlight that targeting negative SM experiences and augmenting the positive experiences on SM may be critical targets to improve teens’ mental health and prevent suicide, rather than focusing on limiting SM screen time

A new era of teen social media use: Adolescents’ daily social media use and mood during the COVID-19 lockdown period

Adolescents’ relationship to social media use shifted significantly during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, less is known about how adolescents’ social media use behaviors and mood were associated during this time. This study examined objective SM use, positive and negative affect during SM use, and general negative mood among adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Participants included 19 adolescents (Mean age = 15.8; 37% female). Bayesian multilevel models examined whether positive and negative affect while using SM were associated with within-person changes in 1) daily duration of SM use, 2) frequency of checking SM, and 3) whether these SM metrics were associated with changes in negative mood at the same-day and next-day levels. Checking SM more frequently than usual was uniquely associated with within-person increases in adolescents’ positive mood when using SM (p < .05), but not negative mood when using SM the next day. At the same-day level, stronger positive or negative mood during SM use were associated with more SM ‘screen time’ (duration) and checking. However, neither ‘screen time’ nor checking were associated with general negative mood on the same-day or next-day level. These findings support the notion that SM is rewarding by highlighting that higher-than-usual SM checking is associated with within-person increases in next-day positive mood during use. These findings also add to growing evidence that social media may not be directly tied to adolescents’ general mood state