The social media scale for depression in adolescence
Social media forms a significant part of adolescents’ lives, yet its impact on depression is unclear. We aimed to develop a questionnaire assessing different ways of using social media, and use it to understand potential associations with depression in adolescence. One thousand one hundred and forty...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Adolescence and Youth |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02673843.2025.2450425 |
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| author | Eve Twivy Daniel Freeman Ciorsdan Anderson Bao Sheng Loe Felicity Waite |
| author_facet | Eve Twivy Daniel Freeman Ciorsdan Anderson Bao Sheng Loe Felicity Waite |
| author_sort | Eve Twivy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social media forms a significant part of adolescents’ lives, yet its impact on depression is unclear. We aimed to develop a questionnaire assessing different ways of using social media, and use it to understand potential associations with depression in adolescence. One thousand one hundred and forty adolescents completed an item pool. Factor analyses were conducted to derive the Social Media Scale (SMS). Ant Colony Optimization was used to develop a short-form SMS containing the factors which uniquely predicted depression as determined by structural equation modelling. The 45-item, nine-factor, SMS, had an acceptable model fit. Five factors (Social comparison; Passing time; Hostility from others; Hostility towards others; and Seeking support) uniquely contributed to depression and together explained 44% of its variance. These factors formed a 15-item short-form SMS, which had an excellent model fit. Social comparison and Passing time on social media had the strongest associations with depression and may be targets for future psychological interventions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3f14d4828ddc474e8694bb22405b3193 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0267-3843 2164-4527 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Adolescence and Youth |
| spelling | doaj-art-3f14d4828ddc474e8694bb22405b31932025-01-16T05:55:48ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Adolescence and Youth0267-38432164-45272025-12-0130110.1080/02673843.2025.2450425The social media scale for depression in adolescenceEve Twivy0Daniel Freeman1Ciorsdan Anderson2Bao Sheng Loe3Felicity Waite4Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKOxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKThe Psychometrics Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKSocial media forms a significant part of adolescents’ lives, yet its impact on depression is unclear. We aimed to develop a questionnaire assessing different ways of using social media, and use it to understand potential associations with depression in adolescence. One thousand one hundred and forty adolescents completed an item pool. Factor analyses were conducted to derive the Social Media Scale (SMS). Ant Colony Optimization was used to develop a short-form SMS containing the factors which uniquely predicted depression as determined by structural equation modelling. The 45-item, nine-factor, SMS, had an acceptable model fit. Five factors (Social comparison; Passing time; Hostility from others; Hostility towards others; and Seeking support) uniquely contributed to depression and together explained 44% of its variance. These factors formed a 15-item short-form SMS, which had an excellent model fit. Social comparison and Passing time on social media had the strongest associations with depression and may be targets for future psychological interventions.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02673843.2025.2450425Social mediadepressionwellbeingadolescencemeasure development |
| spellingShingle | Eve Twivy Daniel Freeman Ciorsdan Anderson Bao Sheng Loe Felicity Waite The social media scale for depression in adolescence International Journal of Adolescence and Youth Social media depression wellbeing adolescence measure development |
| title | The social media scale for depression in adolescence |
| title_full | The social media scale for depression in adolescence |
| title_fullStr | The social media scale for depression in adolescence |
| title_full_unstemmed | The social media scale for depression in adolescence |
| title_short | The social media scale for depression in adolescence |
| title_sort | social media scale for depression in adolescence |
| topic | Social media depression wellbeing adolescence measure development |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02673843.2025.2450425 |
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