AJC.com distilled some interesting results from a study conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom. According to their data, girls are more likely to suffer depression linked to their social media use than boys, but the tendency to be affected by social media use is present in both boys and girls. We felt it was worthwhile to share an excerpt from the story here. If you’re concerned that the teens in your life are exhibiting signs of depression or other issues as a result of their social media use, and you live in the greater Cleveland area, we hope you’ll reach out.
…On average, research showed that girls had higher depressive symptom scores compared with boys and girls reported more social media use as well.
In fact, according to the study, teen girls who spent more than five hours on social media per day had a 50 percent increase in depressive symptoms and boys experienced a 35 percent increase in symptoms compared to those who used social media for only one to three hours per day.
“We were quite surprised when we saw the figures and we saw those raw percentages: the fact that the magnitude of association was so much larger for girls than for boys,” study author Yvonne Kelly of the University College London told CNN. This could be because girls are more likely to spend time on apps centered around “physical appearance, taking photographs and commenting on those photographs,” she said, and urged future researchers to delve deeper into the gender differences.
But overall, the more social media use, the more likely the teens are to have mental health problems, the study found.