Research Findings

When Australia introduced a law to restrict access to social media for young people, there was considerable debate about this legislation, and about whether 16 was the right age.

Led by Dr Nandi Vijayakumar, a new paper from the child to adult transition study (CATS) in the Medical Journal of Australia shines some light on the impact of more frequent social media use on adolescence mental health. This study sought to inform debate about the potential effect of social media use on adolescent mental health problems. You may also be interested in our wider reflections in this linked piece in The Conversation.

CATS recruited a sample of around 1200 children in Grade 3 (aged 8-9 years) in 2012, who have been followed annually since then. The current analysis studied adolescents from 12-18 years of age. We were particularly interested in exploring whether there were differences by stage of adolescence (early, middle, late) and by sex. In summary, we found that more frequent social media use was associated with a modest increase in the risk of high depressive symptoms and poor well-being at the subsequent annual wave across adolescence. Increased risk for all mental health problems was strongest in early adolescence (12-13 years), suggesting that this period may be an important period for targeting policies to mitigate the harmful effects of social media use.

In more detail, we found that more than two hours a day of social media use carried a risk difference of 6% for high depressive symptoms in the subsequent year. In practice what this means is that for every 100 young people with depression, an excess of 6 cases could result from more frequent social media use. Put another way, these findings suggest that were we able to reduce young people’s frequent use of social media, we could potentially prevent 6 of every 100 cases of depression. Importantly, we found nearly double the risk in early adolescence than in the overall sample. In 12–13-yr-old girls, we found a risk difference of 11 for depression. And in this age group, risks persisted for even one hour a day of social media use in 12-13-yr-old girls.

The same pattern of risk was found in boys, namely, that early adolescence was a period of greater risk.

Implications

This study was designed as a hypothetical evaluation of a social media ban in children and adolescents. Given the widespread use of social media among young people, this level of risk from more frequent social media use could have significant population-level impacts. The results do not suggest that social media is universally harmful – but they certainly show that it is not without some harms, most notably in younger adolescents. These findings reinforce the need for age-appropriate limits, better education and literacy programs, and clearer parental guidance.

While Australia’s new social media laws place the responsibility on platforms to have age assurance processes to prevent under 16 yr olds from accessing age restricted sites, these findings are an important reminder about the importance of what parents can do. Even prior to Australia’s new laws, most social media platforms were not recommended for children under 13. Yet Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has found that the majority of Australian 8-12 yr olds on social media had support from their parents to open their accounts. At the very least, consistent with Australia’s social media legislation, our findings suggest that there is value in children and adolescents waiting until they are older to first gain access to social media accounts.

Publication

Nandita Vijayakumar, S Ghazaleh Dashti, Louise Canterford, Susan Ellul, Anthony Parissi, Anne-Lise Goddings, Russell M Viner, Paul Moran, Rohan Borschman, Lisa K Mundy, Ellie M Robson and Susan M Sawyer. ‘The effects of social media on adolescent mental health: findings from a population-based cohort study in Australia,’ Medical Journal of Australia. DOI: 10.5694/mja25.01399