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. 2020 Jun 15;12(6):e8627. doi: 10.7759/cureus.8627

Table 2. Some of the studies/papers included in the review.

IGU, internet gaming disorder; PSMU, problematic social media use

Author Title of Study Method Findings
Berryman et al. [10] Social Media Use and Mental Health among Young Adults Cross-sectional Social media use was not predictive of impaired mental health functioning.
Coyne et al. [11] Does Time Spent using Social Media Impact Mental Health?: An Eight Year Longitudinal Study 8-year longitudinal study Increased time spent on social media was not associated with increased mental health issues across development when examined at the individual level.
Escobar-Viera et al. [12] For Better or for Worse? A Systematic Review of the Evidence on Social Media Use and Depression Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Minorities Systematic Literature Review Social media provides a space to disclose minority experiences and share ways to cope and get support; constant surveillance of one's social media profile can become a stressor, potentially leading to depression.
O’Reilly et al. [15] Potential of Social Media in Promoting Mental Health in Adolescents qualitative study Adolescents frequently utilize social media and the internet to seek information about mental health.
O’Reilly [16] Social Media and Adolescent Mental Health: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly focus groups Much of the negative rhetoric of social media was repeated by mental health practitioners, although there was some acknowledgement of potential benefit.
Feder et al. [17] Is There an Association Between Social Media Use and Mental Health? The Timing of Confounding Measurement Matters longitudinal Frequent social media use report greater symptoms of psychopathology.
Rasmussen et al. [19] The Serially Mediated Relationship between Emerging Adults’ Social Media Use and Mental Well-Being Exploratory study Social media use may be a risk factor for mental health struggles among emerging adults and that social media use may be an activity which emerging adults resort to when dealing with difficult emotions.
Keles et al. [19] A Systematic Review: The Influence of Social Media on Depression, Anxiety and Psychological Distress in Adolescents systematic review Four domains of social media: time spent, activity, investment, and addiction. All domains correlated with depression, anxiety and psychological distress.
Nereim et al. [21] Social Media and Adolescent Mental Health: Who You Are and What You do Matter Exploratory Passive social media use (reading posts) is more strongly associated with depression than active use (making posts).
Mehmet et al. [22] Using Digital and Social Media for Health Promotion: A Social Marketing Approach for Addressing Co‐morbid Physical and Mental Health Intervention Social marketing digital media strategy as a health promotion methodology. The paper has provided a framework for implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of digital social media campaigns that can help consumers, carers, clinicians, and service planners address the challenges of rural health service delivery and the tyranny of distance,
Odgers and Jensen [23] Adolescent Mental Health in the Digital Age: Facts, Fears, and Future Directions Review The review highlights that most research to date has been correlational, has focused on adults versus adolescents, and has generated a mix of often conflicting small positive, negative, and null associations.
Twenge and Martin [24] Gender Differences in Associations between Digital Media Use and Psychological Well-Being: Evidence from Three Large Datasets Cross-sectional Females were found to be addicted to social media as compared with males.
Fardouly et al. [25] The Use of Social Media by Australian Preadolescents and its Links with Mental Health Cross-sectional Users of YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat reported more body image concerns and eating pathology than non-users, but did not differ on depressive symptoms or social anxiety
Wartberg et al. [26] Internet Gaming Disorder and Problematic Social Media Use in a Representative Sample of German Adolescents: Prevalence Estimates, Comorbid Depressive Symptoms, and Related Psychosocial Aspects Cross-sectional Bivariate logistic regression analyses showed that more depressive symptoms, lower interpersonal trust, and family functioning were statistically significantly associated with both IGD and PSMU.
Neira and Barber [28] Social Networking Site Use: Linked to Adolescents’ Social Self-Concept, Self-Esteem, and Depressed Mood Cross-sectional Higher investment in social media (e.g. active social media use) predicted adolescents’ depressive symptoms. No relationship was found between the frequency of social media use and depressed mood.