Social media depression 'twice as likely in teenage girls than boys'

Teenage girls are twice as likely to suffer depression linked to social media than their male counterparts
Pixabay
Megan White4 January 2019

Teenage girls are twice as likely as boys to become depressed from using social media, with online harassment and lower self-esteem to blame, according to a new study.

In the study of almost 11,000 young people in Britain, researchers found that 14-year-old girls were heavier users of social media, with two-fifths of them using it for more than three hours a day, compared to a fifth of boys.

The researchers found 40 per cent of girls and 25 per cent of boys had experienced online harassment or cyberbullying.

Disturbed sleep was reported by 40 per cent of girls, compared with 28 per cent of boys.

Girls using more image-based sites could be the reason for the difference
AP Photo/Haven Daley

Girls were also more affected when it came to social media use and concerns about body image, self-esteem and appearance, the researchers found, but here the gap with boys was smaller.

The study also found that 12 per cent of light social media users and 38 per cent of heavy social media users (more than five hours a day) showed signs of having more severe depression.

The research is based on interviews with almost 11,000 14-year-olds who are taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study.

Yvonne Kelly, a professor at University College London’s Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care who co-led the research, urged parents to note its results.

She said: "We were quite surprised when we saw the figures and we saw those raw percentages: the fact that the magnitude of association was so much larger for girls than for boys.

"My best bet [for the difference] would be the types of things that girls and boys do online.

"In the UK, girls tend to more likely use things like Snapchat or Instagram, which is more based around physical appearance, taking photographs and commenting on those photographs. "I think it has to do with the nature of use.

“These findings are highly relevant to current policy development on guidelines for the safe use of social media and calls on industry to more tightly regulate hours of social media use for young people.

She added that families may also “want to reflect on when and where it’s ok to be on social media” and consider restrictions on teenagers having mobile devices in their bedrooms.

The study, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), was published online in the journal EClinicalMedicine on Friday.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in