Problematic Social Media Use and Depressive Symptoms Show Bidirectional Links in Adolescents

Researchers analyzed data from years 2 through 6 of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. The prospective cohort included 11,279 participants who had at least one measure of problematic social media use and depressive or anxiety symptoms; their mean age at year 2 was 12.01 years, and 47.6% were female. Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models assessed whether changes in one measure were associated with later changes in the other.

Problematic social media use and depressive symptoms showed positive bidirectional lagged associations from year 3 to year 4 and from year 4 to year 5. No significant associations were found for the year 2-to-3 or year 5-to-6 intervals. The analyses found no significant cross-lagged associations between problematic social media use and anxiety symptoms. Associations with depressive symptoms were stronger and more consistently bidirectional among female than male participants. The findings are observational and varied by study interval; they do not establish causation or show that screening or intervention changes outcomes.