Around 7 out of 10 children between 10 and 12 years claims to have a social network, according to data from the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), which also points out that Spain is the advanced country where children allocate more time to the use of social networks, and warns that abusing these platforms can have serious consequences for the mental health of young people.
A new study that has just been published in the magazine Nature Human Behaviour And in which more than 3,000 adolescents in the United Kingdom have been analyzed, reveals that Those who suffer Mental health disorders tend to spend more time to social networks That his classmates without these problems. This difference in the use of digital platforms could provide keys to develop clinical interventions adapted to the needs of young people.
The use of social networks is deeply rooted among British adolescents: 93% of young people between 12 and 17 years have at least one profile in a social network. At the same time, there is an increasing deterioration in the mental health of this group. Previous investigations estimate that one in six young people between 7 and 16 years old, and one in four between 17 and 19 years, could suffer from some mental disorder.
The investigation has been led by Luisa Fassi, Doctoral student in the Cognition and Cerebro Sciences Unit of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, and his team, and has been based on surveys conducted to 3,340 adolescents between 11 and 19 years. Of that group, 16% had been diagnosed with at least one mental health condition. The results show that these young people pass, on average, some 50 minutes a day on social networks than those without diagnosis. In addition to the time of use, differences were also observed in the way of relating to networks. Teenagers with mental disorders felt less satisfied with the amount of virtual friends they had.
In face -to -face contexts, social connections serve as a protective factor against long -term adverse physical and emotional results, especially during adolescence. Therefore, our findings suggest that Difficulties with peer relationships They experience the outside clinical groups outside line can also be reflected in their online interactions.
Different behavior in networks depending on the type of mental disorder
The researchers also verified whether there were differences in social networks behavior between those who suffer from internalizing disorders (such as anxiety or depression) and those who have externalizing disorders, characterized by impulsive behaviors, low self -control capacity and risk tendency.
The data revealed that adolescents with internalizing disorders tended to compare more with other users on social networks and their mood was more affected by the amount of reactions – I like it, comments or shared – that they received in their publications. They were also less likely to show their true feelings in their posts and felt less happy with their online relationships. This difference was clear and significant, which supports the hypothesis that online social comparison is more frequent in this group.
Teenagers with anxiety or depression tended to compare more with other users on social networks and their mood were more affected by the number of reactions to their publications
In the event that adolescents presented externalizing disorders, the results supported the expectations that their use of social networks would show distinctive patterns, since these young people passed a significantly greater amount of time connected, with relevant differences both from the statistical, theoretical point of view.
Time in networks and satisfaction with virtual friendships
Interestingly, one of the hypotheses stated that there would be no differences between adolescents with internalizing disorders and those who present externalizing disorders in terms of the time invested in social networks and satisfaction with their virtual friends. However, the results contradicted this assumption.
Teenagers with internalizing disorders not only spent more time in networks than their peers with outsourcing disorders, but also reported feeling less satisfied with the amount of friendships on their social platforms. This may be because their tendency to negative self -assessment and social comparison leads them to make negative evaluations of their social status. Both differences were statistically significant and sufficiently marked to be considered potentially relevant in clinical terms.
Specifically, the authors found key aspects of participation in social networks that could base the creation of patient consultations and Early Intervention Strategies. For example, this could include psychoeducation and cognitive-behavioral reevaluation techniques aimed specifically to social comparison online or the impact of feedback on social networks (for example, I like it ‘) in the mood of adolescents with internalizing disorders.
The authors of the study have highlighted in their article that it is necessary to continue investigating to determine if there is a cause-effect relationship between the use of social networks and mental health problems. They also propose to expand studies to include adolescents from other countries and thus obtain a more global vision of the phenomenon.
As for the limitations, they recognize that the results, tight to adolescents from the United Kingdom, do not have to be extrapolated to the contexts of other countries. Likewise, the data analyzed were collected in 2017, so “the rapid evolution of the platforms and user behaviors presents a possible limitation when applying our findings to current trends.”
José César Perales, Professor of Psychology at the University of Granada, who has not participated in the study, has indicated in statements to SMC Spain that the main novelties of work are that “the mental health measures used allow to distinguish between participants that suffer some clinically significant psychological alteration and those that do not” and that “are distinguished between people suffering internalizing alterations (for example, for example, anxiety disorder) and internalizing (for example, ADHD or behavior problems) and compare both between them and the group without psychological alterations. a lower satisfaction with the number of friends online, a lower honest self -presentation and a lower perception of control over the use of social networks, compared to those without a mental health alteration. None of these qualitative effects was remarkable in the group of outsourcing alterations. “
This expert concludes that, although the results do not provide causal evidence, they reveal some possible mechanisms of the interrelation between mental health and use of social networks. More specifically, they are compatible with an interactionist model in which emotional and mood alterations would induce a use of social networks (for example, disadvantageous social comparisons) that, in turn, would have an impact on a worst mood. In that model, it emphasizes that risk factors and protectors in the online context are not too different from those that appear offline. For example, the tendency to disadvantageous comparison would not be exclusively in the networks, but also outside the networks, in the same way that the quality of online friendships would exercise a protective factor in the online context similar to that it exerts offline. Although it is true that the ubiquity and accessibility of the Internet can be a risk factor to enter these feedback loops, it is also necessary that Its prevention would go through promoting more rewarding and a greater degree of social protection in the network“.
Source: www.webconsultas.com