Use of social network as a coping strategy for depression among young people during the COVID-19 lockdown: findings from the COMET collaborative study

Abstract

Background Use of social media (SM) has exponentially grown particularly among youths in the past two years, due to COVID-19-related changing lifestyles. Based on the Italian COvid Mental hEalth Trial (COMET), we investigated the association between SM use and depressive symptoms among Italian young adults (aged 18–24). Methods The COMET is a nationwide multi-center cross-sectional study that investigated socio-demographic data, social networking addiction (BSNAS), depression, anxiety, and stress (DASS-21), as well as impulsiveness (BIS-15) and aggressiveness (AQ) in a large sample of youngsters, in order to assess the association between BSNAS and DASS-21 indices. Mediation analyses were performed to evaluate the role of impulsiveness and aggressive personality traits in the association between SM use (SMU) and depression. Results 75.8% of the sample (n = 491) had a problematic SMU. SMU was reduced by high AQ and high DASS-21 scores (F = 42.338, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.207). Mediation analyses showed that SMU negatively predicted depressive symptomatology with the interaction mediated by AQ total (ß = − 0.1075), physical (ß = − 0.207) and anger (ß = − 0.0582), BIS-15 total (ß = − 0.0272) and attentional (ß = − 0.0302). High depressive levels were predicted by high AQ scores, low SMU levels, low verbal and physical AQ, and low attentional BIS-15 (F = 30.322, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.273). Depressive symptomatology negatively predicted SMU with their interaction mediated by AQ total (ß = − 0.1640), verbal (ß = 0.0436) and anger (ß = − 0.0807), BIS-15 total (ß = − 0.0448) and attentional (ß = − 0.0409). Conclusions SMU during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic could have a beneficial role in buffering negative consequences linked to social isolation due to quarantine measures, despite this association being mediated by specific personality traits.

“Swipe & slice”: decoding digital struggles with non-suicidal self-injuries among youngsters

“…One key-point observation from the study is the high prevalence of NSSI-related behaviors among the surveyed sample (which indeed comes from the general population and not a clinical sample), with a substantial percentage of participants who declared a current regular engagement in NSSIs (around two third of the sample) or a previous history of NSSIs (around 85% of the sample). These results highlight the urgent need for targeted interventions and support mechanisms to address the underlying psychological distress and maladaptive coping strategies prevalent among our current youth generation ( 4 ). These findings are indeed consistent with previous research carried out during the post-COVID-19 era which demonstrated a 2-/3-fold increase in NSSI, particularly among youngsters ( 23 – 25 ).…”

Spanish media coverage of youth mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Moreover, there is no in-depth discussion of the responsible use of social media [ 21 , 22 ], which would be of great interest. Neither are the positive points described, nor the opportunities they offer for communication and mutual support [ 65 ]. Given that the reality is that more and more children are using social networks to show their discomfort [ 66 ], it is of greater interest to focus efforts on how to take advantage of this reality for prevention and treatment interventions, rather than blanket criticism.…”

From “online brains” to “online lives”: understanding the individualized impacts of Internet use across psychological, cognitive and social dimensions

“…In particular, there is research evidence that social media use contributes to the overall ability of older adults to engage more fully and effectively in social contexts, thereby enriching their social well-being and interactions 50 . Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies observed that social media usage ameliorated some of the social isolation produced by lockdowns in youth 51 , while adolescents who did not have access to a computer experienced substantially worsened mental health outcomes over that period 52 .…”