Adolescent Digital Stress: Frequencies, Correlates, and Longitudinal Association With Depressive Symptoms

Nick, Elizabeth A.; Kilic, Zelal; Nesi, Jacqueline; Telzer, Eva H.; Lindquist, Kristen A.; Prinstein, Mitchell J.

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.08.025

Cited by 33 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Although use of privacy settings within individual platforms enables audience management, the advent of screenshotting represents a complete undermining of privacy information control, whereby any audience member is now able to reproduce and edit the original content. Screenshotting thus represents a threat to young people's ability to control their self-image, and an important source of digital stress (Nick et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Types of social media use and digital stress in early adolescence

Winstone¹,

Mars²,

Haworth³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Evidence on how different types of social media use contribute to digital stress in early adolescence is lacking. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-four 13-14-year-olds. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded and thematically analysed. Themes were generated based on digital stressors specific to passive social media use (time-wasting and digital guilt, and exposure to harmful content); private social media communication (expectations of availability and unsolicited contact by strangers); and social media broadcasting (expectations of perfection and sexualisation, fear of negative evaluation and risks to privacy). Several digital stressors appeared pervasive in everyday social media use. Bolstering social and emotional resources offline and encouraging effective implementation of privacy settings may improve resilience against several sources of digital stress.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Types of social media use and digital stress in early adolescence

Winstone¹,

Mars²,

Haworth³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Many adolescents feel stress about their online interactions and social networks (Hall et al, 2021; Nick et al, 2022), fear missing out, feel relational pressures, and are concerned that others will judge their online behavior (Hall et al, 2021; Steele et al, 2020; Weinstein et al, 2016). Adolescents who feel more stress about social media interactions report greater fears of social rejection (Nick et al, 2022). Because social media is frequently used for connecting with peers and viewing new, interesting stimuli (Rideout & Robb, 2018), social media use with peers may be related to adolescents’ feelings of social connectedness, craving, and sensation seeking (e.g., Pouwels et al, 2021).…”

Section: Social Media and Adolescents’ Social Adjustmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Momentary links between adolescents’ social media use and social experiences and motivations: Individual differences by peer susceptibility.

Armstrong‐Carter¹,

Garrett²,

Nick³

et al. 2023

Developmental Psychology

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This longitudinal ecological momentary assessment study examined whether adolescents’ use of social media to interact with peers relates to their experiences of social connectedness, social craving, and sensation seeking on an hourly level. Further, we investigated whether these associations differ for adolescents who were nominated by their peers as more or less susceptible to social influences, because highly susceptible youth may be more strongly impacted by social media due to heightened focus on peer behaviors and social feedback. The sample was 212 adolescents in the southeastern United States (Mage = 15 years; range 14 to 17; 56.2% female; 40% White, 28% Latinx, 26% African American, 15% mixed/other race). Controlling for both daily and between-subjects effects, we found a consistent pattern of hourly-level results that were robust to sensitivity analyses. When highly susceptible adolescents used social media to interact with peers in the last hour, they felt less socially connected to others and more strongly craved social connections and novel sensations. Youth who are particularly sensitive to social input from peers may feel less connected to others and crave more connections and exciting stimuli within 1 hr after using social media to interact with peers.

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“…Second, since previous research illustrates that digital stress is related to mental health, what kinds of influencing mechanisms exist between smartphone stress and mental health? Third, as previous literature indicates that digital stress may negatively impact adolescents' mental health (Hall et al, 2021;Nick et al, 2022), what approaches should be taken to prevent this phenomenon? Fourth, most previous studies have been interested in problematic smartphone use or smartphone dependency (see Busch & McCarthy, 2021;Guitton, 2020).…”

Section: Limitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smartphone stress: Concept, structure, and development of measurement among adolescents

Huang

Lai

et al. 2022

Cyberpsychology

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People suffer from stress or digital stress when using information communication technology. Smartphones are the most widely used smart device among adolescents. However, few tools have been developed to capture smartphone stress. This preregistered study aims to clarify and define the concept of smartphone stress based on previous literature regarding digital stress and to develop a smartphone stress scale for adolescents. This study integrated qualitative and quantitative approaches to explore the structure of smartphone stress and develop a smartphone stress scale. First, we theoretically proposed the smartphone stress item pool based on current theories of digital stress and the definition of smartphone stress. Then, we conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews (N = 41) to revise the items in the item pool. Lastly, we finalized the scale based on the data collected from three independent samples of adolescents (Nsample1 = 1,088, Nsample2 = 879, Nsample3 = 176). The results revealed six dimensions of smartphone stress among adolescents: unsatisfactory information and communication, unmet recreational motivation, online learning burden, social concerns, useless and overloaded notifications, and online verbal attacks. The content validity was confirmed and the scale showed robust reliability (α = .851 to .959), stability (test-retest reliability = .717 to .681, p < .001), and validity (construct validity: χ2 = 2,811.967, df = 399, CFI = .966, TLI = .963, RMSEA = .075; correlations with anxiety and depression were .431 to .462, p < .001). The developed scale is reliable in measuring smartphone stress in adolescents. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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Adolescent Digital Stress: Frequencies, Correlates, and Longitudinal Association With Depressive Symptoms

Cited by 33 publications

References 13 publications

Types of social media use and digital stress in early adolescence

Types of social media use and digital stress in early adolescence

Momentary links between adolescents’ social media use and social experiences and motivations: Individual differences by peer susceptibility.

Smartphone stress: Concept, structure, and development of measurement among adolescents

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