City Research Online

Abstract

Concerns are increasingly raised in academic and lay literature about the impact of the internet on young people’s well-being. This systematic review examined empirical research on the relationship between social media use and depressive symptoms in the child and adolescent population. A systematic search of Medline, PsycInfo and Embase databases yielded eleven eligible studies. Relevant results were extracted from each study, with a total sample of 12,646. Analysis revealed a small but statistically significant correlation between social media use and depressive symptoms in young people. However, studies varied widely in methods, sample size and results, making the clinical significance of these findings nuanced. Over half of the studies were cross-sectional, while those of longitudinal design were of limited duration. This review justifies further investigation of this phenomenon, with a need for consensus on variables and measurement.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2017, The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > ZA Information resources
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Nursing
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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