Twigg, L., Duncan, C. and Weich, S. orcid.org/0000-0002-7552-7697 (2020) Is social media use associated with children's well-being? Results from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Journal of Adolescence, 80. pp. 73-83. ISSN 0140-1971
Abstract
Introduction There are concerns about young people's increasing use of social media and the effects this has on overall life satisfaction. Establishing the significance of social media use requires researchers to take simultaneous account of other factors that might be influential and it is essential to adopt a longitudinal perspective to investigate temporal patterns.
Method Measures of happiness for children aged 10–15 from 7 waves of the UK Household Longitudinal Study were examined (n = 7596). Multilevel models were used to assess the relative association between these measures, children's social media use and individual, household and community characteristics.
Results High use of social media was found to be significantly associated with change in happiness scores but was not associated with worsening life satisfaction trajectories. The most consistent factor was gender, with girls experiencing the largest decline in happiness between two time points (0.18 points) and being more likely to have a worsening trajectory over time (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.36–2.32). Parental mental health, household support and household income were also important.
Conclusion Moderate use of social media does not play an important role in shaping children's life satisfaction. Higher levels of use is associated with lower levels of happiness, especially for girls but more research is needed to understand how this technology is being used. As well as focusing on high levels of social media use, policy makers should also concentrate on particular demographic groupings and factors affecting the social fabric of the households in which children grow up.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Journal of Adolescence. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Mental health; Social media; UK Household Longitudinal Study; Household context; Gender differences |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 30 Jun 2020 09:02 |
Last Modified: | 18 Aug 2021 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.02.002 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:162553 |