Table 1.

Association between social media use and anxiety^a and depression^b

	Studies, n (participants)	Pooled		I2 (%)
		effect sizes [95% CI]	Q-statistics
Anxiety symptoms
Odds ratio
Overall studies	6 (9579)	1.55 [1.30–1.85]	6.84	26.94
Quality assessment
High Quality	4 (7599)	1.45 [1.21–1.73]	1.76	0.00
β c	3 (2376)	0.05 [−0.32–0.41]	8.36	76.07
Pearson’s r d	4 (2483)	0.18 [0.10–0.27]	11.13	73.04
Depressive symptoms
Odds ratio
Overall studies	6 (13241)	1.43 [1.14–1.80]	15.22	67.16
Quality assessment
High Quality	2 (4481)	1.42 [0.69–2.90]	0.33	0.00
β c	3 (2574)	0.08 [0.01–0.14]	0.82	0.00

^a Anxiety symptoms were ascertained using the GAD-7 (cut-off: 10), GHQ-28, GAD-2, PHQ-4, GAD-2, SAS, and DASS-21

^b Depressive symptoms were ascertained by the DASS-21, WHO-5 (cut-off: 13), PHQ-9 (cut-off:10), GHQ-28, and PHQ-2

^c Beta value calculated by linear regression analysis indicates the change in score over time in hours

^d Correlation analysis

Β Beta value; CI Confidence Interval; DASS Subscale scores of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale; GAD Generalized Anxiety Disorder; GHQ-28 General Health Questionnaire-28; PHQ Patient Health Questionnaire; SAS Self-Rating Anxiety Scale

* Significant results are in bold text