Negative experiences on social media and mental health among adolescents. The “LifeOnSoMe”-Study

BACKGROUND: Cyberbullying has been widely studied and is associated with poor mental health outcomes in adolescents. However, adolescents frequently also experience a range of other negative experiences, such as name-calling, exclusion, and unwanted attention or contact from others. Few previous studies have investigated how adolescents’ mental health is affected by these more common and relatively less severe types of negative experiences on social media (SOME). The aim of the present study was to assess the associations between mental health outcomes and two aspects of negative experiences on SOME; unwanted attention and negative acts and exclusion. METHODS: This study is based on a survey conducted in 2020/21 consisting of 3,253 Norwegian adolescents (mean age 17 years; 56% female). Eight statements about negative experiences on SOME were asked and combined into two composite measures: “Unwanted attention from others” and “Negative acts and exclusion”. Dependent variables in regression models were symptoms of anxiety, symptoms of depression, and quality of life. Covariates included age, gender, subjective socioeconomic status, and amount of SOME-use. RESULTS: Both “negative acts and exclusion” and “unwanted attention from others” on SOME were consistently positively associated with self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety, and negatively associated with mental well-being in both crude and adjusted analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate a potential important relationship between experiencing negative events on SOME, even presumably less severe events, and worse mental health and well-being. Future research should investigate the potential causal relationship between negative experiences on SOME and mental health, as well as exploring potential precipitating and intermediating factors. KEY MESSAGES: • The findings from this study indicate that commonly reported negative experiences on social media is associated with poor mental health and well-being among adolescents. • The present study highlight the need to also focus on less severe but commonly occuring negative experiences on social media.