Studies have already found link between social media usage and depression, but according to a new research, females are twice more likely to be depressed than men due to social media.
New research by University College London (UCL) indicates that teenage girls are twice as likely to show depressive symptoms linked to social media as compared to their male counterparts mainly due to online harassment, disturbed sleep, poor body image and lower self esteem.
The study, examining data from around 11,000 young people in UK, discovered that 12% of light social media users and 38% of heavy social media users (those who use it for five or more hours a day) displayed signs of having more severe depression. Girls, however, are more affected as the study found two-fifths of 14-year-old girls using it for over three hours per day as compared to one-fifth of boys.
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Moreover, time spent on social media was also linked to involvement with online harassment that had direct and indirect connections with depressive symptom scores via sleep, poor body image and self-esteem.
Upon analyzing the primary processes that might be linked with social media usage and depression, researchers found that 40% of girls and 25% of boys go through online harassment, cyberbullying, and 40% girls compared to 28% boys experience sleep disruption.
Only 4% girls were reported to not use social media as compared to 10% of boys. A quarter of girls shown signs of clinically relevant depressive symptoms in contrast to 11% of boys, reported Independent.
Social media usage was also directly related to less sleep, taking more time to fall asleep and more disruptions during sleep. Depressive symptom scores were higher for girls and boys going through poor sleep, according to the study published in the journal EClinicalMedicine.
After looking at the results, lead researcher Yvonne Kelly urged parents and government to take notice of the issue. “These findings are highly relevant to current policy development on guidelines for the safe use of social media and calls on industry to more tightly regulate hours of social media use for young people.”
She said families may also ‘want to reflect on when and where it’s okay to be on social media’ and also consider restrictions on teenagers having mobile devices in their bedrooms.