Social media use and anxiety in emerging adults

Highlights

• The association between social media use and anxiety was examined in emerging adults.

• More time spent using social media was associated with greater symptoms of dispositional anxiety.

• More social media use was linked to greater odds of having an anxiety disorder.

• Clinicians should consider social media use in the context of anxiety treatment.

Abstract

Introduction

Social media use is central to the lives of emerging adults, but the implications of social media use on psychological adjustment are not well understood. The current study aimed to examine the impact of time spent using social media on anxiety symptoms and severity in emerging adults.

Methods

Using a web-based recruitment technique, we collected survey information on social media use and anxiety symptoms and related impairment in a nationally representative sample of 563 emerging adults from the U.S. (18–22 years-old; 50.2% female; 63.3% Non-Hispanic White). Participants self-reported the amount of time they spent using various social media sites on an average day, and responded to anxiety questionnaires

Results

Hierarchical regression revealed that more time spent using social media was significantly associated with greater symptoms of dispositional anxiety (B=0.74, 95% CI=0.59–0.90, p<0.001), but was unrelated to recent anxiety-related impairment (B=0.06, 95% CI=0.00–0.12, p=0.051), controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and education level. Logistic regression also revealed that more daily social media use was significantly associated with a greater likelihood of participants scoring above the anxiety severity clinical cut-off indicating a probable anxiety disorder (AOR=1.032, 95% CI=1.004–1.062, p=0.028).

Limitations

Study limitations include the cross-sectional design and reliance on self-report questionnaires.

Conclusions

Given the ubiquity of social media among emerging adults, who are also at high risk for anxiety disorders, the positive association between social media use and anxiety has important implications for clinicians. Gaining a more nuanced understanding of this relationship will help to inform novel approaches to anxiety treatment.

Introduction

Anxiety is common among U.S. adults, with emerging adulthood representing a high-risk period for the onset of several anxiety disorders (Kessler et al., 2012). Anxiety disorders represent the second leading cause of disability among all psychiatric disorders, with the burden peaking during emerging and early adulthood (Whiteford et al., 2013). At the individual level, anxiety disorders are associated with significant psychiatric and medical comorbidities and role impairments in occupational and social domains (Costello et al., 2005). Societal costs are also extensive, as the annual U.S. expenditures from anxiety disorders are estimated to exceed $42–47 billion (Whiteford et al., 2013). Given the substantial burden attributable to anxiety disorders, increasing knowledge on factors associated with anxiety in emerging adults is crucial to enhancing developmental risk models and developing novel interventions.

Social media, which refers to internet applications that enable users to generate and exchange content with others (e.g., Facebook; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010), has become central to the lives of emerging adults. Approximately 90% of young adults use social media, with the majority using two or more social media sites and visiting these sites daily (Perrin, 2015). The ubiquity of social media in the lives of emerging adults has led to an increasing interest in understanding the impact of social media on their psychological adjustment. Social media may serve as a key context through which emerging adults negotiate important developmental tasks, including identity development and maintaining social connections (Moreno and Whitehill, 2014). Advancements in identity formation and increases in social support achieved through social media use may enhance psychological well-being. However, social media use has the potential to function as a source of stress or reinforce negative self-evaluations when individuals receive undesirable feedback from others or engage in negative social comparisons (Nesi and Prinstein, 2015). The immersive experience created by the numerous distracting features of social media sites also may facilitate avoidant coping strategies and social isolation (Moreno and Whitehill, 2014), which may promote psychopathology.

Little is known about the relationship between social media use and anxiety. One study found that individuals in a Norwegian community sample of late adolescents and adults (16–88 years) endorsing more signs of addictive social media use reported more anxiety symptoms (Schou Andreassen et al., 2016). In another study comprising mostly female (88%) U.S. undergraduates, a subset (~17%) of participants reported that using Facebook made them feel anxious, and nearly half reported delaying responses to friend requests due to anxiety (Campisi et al., 2012). Finally, one study failed to find a relationship between Facebook use frequency and ratings of worry in a small sample of young adults (Kross et al., 2013). No known studies have examined whether a broader range of social media use is related to anxiety. The homogenous and localized nature of the samples in these initial studies further limits their generalizability. The present study, therefore, aimed to investigate the association between social media use and anxiety symptomatology in a large, nationally representative sample of U.S. emerging adults. It was hypothesized that more daily social media use would be associated with elevated dispositional anxiety symptoms and more severe recent anxiety-related impairment.