Relationship Between Social Media Use and Adolescent Mental Health - a Systematic Review

Abstract

Social media has been inseparably linked to the daily lives of adolescents for several decades. In social and scientific discourse, we often hear that they are considered one of the significant factors responsible for the observed increase in mental health problems among young people in recent decades. Therefore, understanding the impact of these media on the mental well-being of young individuals has become a priority. For this purpose, a systematic review of research on the relationship between adolescents' use of social media and their mental health was conducted. The systematic review was carried out following the PRISMA standards. Its aim was to identify all studies exploring the association between adolescents' engagement in social media use and the state of their mental health, specifically targeting individuals aged 12-18 years. The EBSCOhost search engine was employed for this purpose, and databases such as Academic Search Ultimate, Education Source Ultimate, Applied Science & Technology Source Ultimate, Medline, Eric, and APA PsycArticle were searched from May to June 2023, aiming to identify studies published between 2013 and 2023. A total of 25 articles were identified from 16,787 records and subjected to evaluation. The results presented in these articles did not provide clear evidence for a linear, strong, and positive association between adolescents' use of social media and the occurrence of mental health problems. The majority of the evaluated research projects had several limitations, therefore it seems justified to conduct further studies with significantly improved measurement procedures, which could yield valuable and clinically relevant data on the relationship between social media use and the mental health of young individuals.