Brief report: Problematic social media use and sleep disturbances are longitudinally associated with depressive symptoms in adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Problematic social media use and sleep disturbances are independently related with mental health. However, evidence of combined effects of changes in problematic social media use and sleep disturbances on changes in depressive symptoms in adolescents is limited. The aim of this study was to examine complex longitudinal associations between problematic social media use, sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms during middle adolescence.

Methods: A 2-year longitudinal study was conducted consisting of three waves, each separated by 1 year. The participants were 249 Estonian adolescents (46,6% female) aged 15.3 ± 0.3 years (M ± SD) who completed self-report measures of problematic social media use, sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms.

Results: The findings revealed that initial level in both problematic social media use and sleep disturbances both significantly predicted change in depressive symptoms. Moreover, the increases in problematic social media use and sleep disturbances were both associated with an increase in depressive symptoms, irrespective of gender.

Conclusions: Our findings add strength to the evidence supporting longitudinal associations between problematic social media use and depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms in middle adolescence.

Keywords: Adolescence; Depression; Problematic social media use; Sleep disturbances.