High and low levels of adolescent peer status are associated longitudinally with socioevaluative concern

This study examined linear and curvilinear longitudinal associations between peer status (i.e., likeability and popularity) and socioevaluative concern, a socio-cognitive feature characterized by attunement to judgment from peers. A sample of 716 adolescents (Mage  = 16.01, SD = 1.25; 54% female; 46.5% White; 69.5% reduced-price lunch) was assessed twice annually. Likeability and popularity were assessed with peer nominations at Time 1. Measures of general (rejection sensitivity, peer importance) and online (digital status seeking, online status importance) socioevaluative concern were obtained at Times 1 and 2. High and low levels of likeability were longitudinally associated with increased peer importance, while high and low levels of popularity were associated with increased digital status seeking, and decreased online status importance for girls.

Age-related differences in social media use, online social support, and depressive symptoms in adolescents and emerging adults

BACKGROUND

Despite growing concerns about the impact of social media use on the developing brain and associated mental health impacts, whether susceptibility to the benefits and harms of social media use changes across adolescence and young adulthood has yet to be empirically tested.

METHOD

Using a cross-sectional sample of participants aged 14-22 years (N = 254), we examined (a) linear and non-linear age-related changes in social media use and online social support and (b) age-related differences in the effects of social media use and online social support on depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

We found age differences in social media use, but not online social support, such that social media use increased across adolescence and peaked around age 20, followed by stable use into young adulthood. Age moderated the effect of online social support, but not overall social media use, on depressive symptoms, such that online social support was negatively associated with depressive symptoms for adolescents (age < 16.98), but the opposite pattern emerged for young adults (age > 19.04).

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest overall developmental changes in social media use and that adolescents may be more susceptible than emerging adults to the beneficial effects of positive online interactions on mental health.

Momentary links between adolescents' social media use and social experiences and motivations: Individual differences by peer susceptibility

This longitudinal ecological momentary assessment study examined whether adolescents' use of social media to interact with peers relates to their experiences of social connectedness, social craving, and sensation seeking on an hourly level. Further, we investigated whether these associations differ for adolescents who were nominated by their peers as more or less susceptible to social influences, because highly susceptible youth may be more strongly impacted by social media due to heightened focus on peer behaviors and social feedback. The sample was 212 adolescents in the southeastern United States (Mage = 15 years; range 14 to 17; 56.2% female; 40% White, 28% Latinx, 26% African American, 15% mixed/other race). Controlling for both daily and between-subjects effects, we found a consistent pattern of hourly-level results that were robust to sensitivity analyses. When highly susceptible adolescents used social media to interact with peers in the last hour, they felt less socially connected to others and more strongly craved social connections and novel sensations. Youth who are particularly sensitive to social input from peers may feel less connected to others and crave more connections and exciting stimuli within 1 hr after using social media to interact with peers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescent Digital Stress: Frequencies, Correlates, and Longitudinal Association With Depressive Symptoms

PURPOSE

Adolescents are among the most frequent users of social media and are highly attuned to social feedback. However, digital stress, or subjective distress related to social media demands, expectations, and others' approval and judgment, is understudied in adolescents.

METHODS

We conducted a preliminary investigation of self-reported digital stress and its hypothesized correlates (social media, peer status, and mental health variables) among 680 students (M_age = 14.27, SD = .62; 49.2% female).

RESULTS

Nearly half of participants reported experiencing digital stress at least "sometimes," regardless of race or ethnicity; sex differences were small. Digital stress was associated with greater social media use and importance, peer importance, popularity, and all mental health variables. Digital stress was also associated longitudinally with increases in depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

These preliminary findings suggest the importance of further investigation of digital stress and its effects on adolescent health.

#socialdistancing: Social Media Use and Online Social Support Moderate the Effect of Pandemic-Related Stress on Internalizing Symptoms in Emerging Adults

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major stressors, increases in internalizing symptomatology, and greater reliance on online interactions. We examined associations between social media use, online social support, pandemic-related stress, and internalizing symptoms, and tested the moderating role of social media use on the relation between stress and symptom change across time.

Methods

Emerging adults aged 18-25 (N=200) self-reported pandemic-related stress, internalizing symptoms, social media use, and online social support in May 2020, then repeated measures of internalizing symptoms in August 2020.

Results

Greater social media use was cross-sectionally associated with greater stress and anxiety symptoms. High social media use in conjunction with high interpersonal stress was predictive of increases in depression, whereas low online social support and high total stress was predictive of increases in anxiety.

Discussion

Findings suggest that general social media usage and online social support are differentially related to internalizing symptom change among emerging adults.

The Peer Victimization in College Survey: Construction and validation

Colleges and universities are increasingly concerned about respect for diversity and tolerance of individual differences on their campuses. Nevertheless, no comprehensive measure of peer victimization has been developed and validated for use with college student populations. The Peer Victimization in College Survey (PVIC) is the first such measure. Study 1 (N = 733) reports how PVIC items were empirically derived to ensure construct coverage. Study 2 (N = 100) reports how intuitive PVIC subscales were established to distinguish between subtypes of college peer victimization. Study 3 (N = 520) provides evidence of convergent, discriminant, and construct validity for the PVIC, including its relations to risk factors and to outcomes such as depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress, and college sense of belonging. Study 4 (N = 633) validates several PVIC scaling methods and provides evidence of incremental validity of the measure over current (unvalidated) measures. The PVIC can assess subtypes of peer victimization on college campuses, evaluate the effectiveness of campus intervention efforts, and test hypotheses about the causes and effects of peer victimization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional and cognitive reactivity: Validating a multilevel modeling approach to daily diary data

An increasing number of studies are applying multilevel modeling (MLM) to daily diary assessments of emotional and cognitive reactivity (ER and CR). Despite their generation of promising results, these methods have yet to be validated. The current study, consisting of 449 participants from over 90 different colleges and universities, had 2 goals: (a) to assess the convergent validity of these methods in relation to more conventional measures, and (b) to assess the construct validity of these methods in relation to depressive symptoms. Results support the extraction of within- versus between-person aspects of both constructs from daily diary data. Evidence of convergent validity derives from the association of MLM-based estimates of ER and CR with established self-report questionnaire methods. Evidence of construct validity derives from the relation of these estimates to symptoms of depression. The value of distinguishing within- from between-person aspects of ER and CR is discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Are Aspects of Twitter Use Associated with Reduced Depressive Symptoms? The Moderating Role of In-Person Social Support

In a two-wave, 4-month longitudinal study of 308 adults, two hypotheses were tested regarding the relation of Twitter-based measures of online social media use and in-person social support with depressive thoughts and symptoms. For four of five measures, Twitter use by in-person social support interactions predicted residualized change in depression-related outcomes over time; these results supported a corollary of the social compensation hypothesis that social media use is associated with greater benefits for people with lower in-person social support. In particular, having a larger Twitter social network (i.e., following and being followed by more people) and being more active in that network (i.e., sending and receiving more tweets) are especially helpful to people who have lower levels of in-person social support. For the fifth measure (the sentiment of Tweets), no interaction emerged; however, a beneficial main effect offset the adverse main effect of low in-person social support.

Dynamic measures of emotional and cognitive reactivity in college students

Questionnaire and mood-induction measures of emotional and cognitive reactivity (ER and CR) have noteworthy strengths as well as potential liabilities (as do virtually all measures of psychological constructs). Toward a solution to the fallible measurement problem, methodologists have long advocated utilizing qualitatively diverse assessment methods to converge upon the constructs of interests. The current article introduces and provides initial validation of the Behind Your Back measure that (unlike any other measure) simultaneously assesses both ER and CR in college students via methods that avoid some of the problems associated with conventional measures. For both ER and CR, 3 dimensions are hypothesized, representing (a) person-driven, (b) event-driven, and (c) person/event-driven aspects of ER and CR. Results support this tripartite structure and provide evidence of convergent and construct validity of the method, including significant relations to self-reported symptoms of depression. Implications of these BYB-derived dimensions for theory and enhancing practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Adaptation of Multi-Family Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (MF-PEP) for Adolescents with Mood Disorders: Preliminary Findings

Adolescent mood disorders are a major public health concern. Clinical need for services outstrips availability in many communities. Group psychotherapy is an efficient means to provide service to a larger number of clientele and can offer certain clinical advantages. Multi-Family Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (MF-PEP), an adjunctive group psychosocial treatment, has been shown to improve children's mood symptoms, increase parents' knowledge of mood disorder symptoms, improve family interactions and improve use of behavioral health services. In this study, an adaptation of MF-PEP for adolescents with mood disorders is described and preliminary data are presented. Among the 19 adolescents with mood disorders and 22 parents who completed the study, improvements in adolescents' depressive symptoms, quality of life, families' understanding of mood disorders, and overall satisfaction with treatment were reported. Results have informed ongoing pilot testing of Teen-MF-PEP.

The Online Social Support Scale: Measure development and validation

A new measure, the Online Social Support Scale, was developed based on previous theory, research, and measurement of in-person social support. It includes four subscales: Esteem/Emotional Support, Social Companionship, Informational Support, and Instrumental Support. In college and community samples, factor analytic and item response theory results suggest that subtypes of in-person social support also pertain in the online world. Evidence of reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity provide excellent psychometric support for the measure. Construct validity accrues to the measure vis-à-vis support for three hypotheses: (a) Various broad types of Internet platforms for social interactions are differentially associated with online social support and online victimization; (b) similar to in-person social support, online social support offsets the adverse effect of negative life events on self-esteem and depression-related outcome; and (c) online social support counteracts the effects of online victimization in much the same way that in-person friends in one social niche counterbalance rejection in other social niches. (PsycINFO Database Record

Time-varying and time-invariant dimensions of depression in children and adolescents: Implications for cross-informant agreement

The longitudinal structure of depression in children and adolescents was examined by applying a Trait-State-Occasion structural equation model to 4 waves of self, teacher, peer, and parent reports in 2 age groups (9 to 13 and 13 to 16 years old). Analyses revealed that the depression latent variable consisted of 2 longitudinal factors: a time-invariant dimension that was completely stable over time and a time-varying dimension that was not perfectly stable over time. Different sources of information were differentially sensitive to these 2 dimensions. Among adolescents, self- and parent reports better reflected the time-invariant aspects. For children and adolescents, peer and teacher reports better reflected the time-varying aspects. Relatively high cross-informant agreement emerged for the time-invariant dimension in both children and adolescents. Cross-informant agreement for the time-varying dimension was high for adolescents but very low for children. Implications emerge for theoretical models of depression and for its measurement, especially when attempting to predict changes in depression in the context of longitudinal studies. (PsycINFO Database Record

Online Social Support for Young People: Does It Recapitulate In-person Social Support; Can It Help?

As social media websites have grown in popularity, public concern about online victimization has grown as well; however, much less attention has focused on the possible beneficial effects of online social networks. If theory and research about in-person social networks pertain, then online social relationships may represent an important modern source of or vehicle for support. In a study of 231 undergraduates, three major findings emerged: (1) for people with weaker in-person social support, social media sites provide a source of social support that is less redundant of the social support they receive in person; (2) in ways that were not redundant of each other, both online and in-person social support were associated with lower levels of depression-related thoughts and feelings, and (3) the beneficial effects of online social support (like in-person social support) offset some of the adverse effects of peer victimization. The study suggests that augmenting social relations via strategic use of social media can enhance young people's social support systems in beneficial ways.