Adolescents With Depression Less Likely to Post Symptoms on Social Media As They Age
Youth need to be told that they should talk to a responsible adult when feeling troubled.
Adolescents with a diagnosis of depression may feel less stigmatized when describing their depressed mood on social media than previously believed, according to a study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2018 Meeting in Toronto. The study further found, however, that at-risk adolescents are less likely to post about depressive symptoms on social media as they age.
The purpose of the longitudinal study was to analyze the patterns of social media posting describing depressive symptoms among an at-risk group of adolescents at two different points in their lives—at age 13 and then again between the ages of 18 and 20. “This research doesn’t speak to the effect of social media on teens,” lead author and pediatrician Kathleen Miller, M.D., told Psychiatric News. “Rather, we focused on looking at how teens use social media to express their symptoms.”
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The study measured Facebook posts made by approximately 80 participants, both as adolescents and as young adults. In analyzing the content, Miller and her colleagues applied the DSM criteria for depression to identify displayed depression symptoms on Facebook.
The authors found that the average number of references to depression among those who posted was 9.30 as adolescents and 4.94 as young adults, showing a dramatic decrease in posts between the time frames. The average number of references to suicide or self-harm was 0.34 as adolescents and 0.08 as young adults.
Miller, who is a fellow in adolescent medicine at the University of Minnesota, said that the reduced expressions about depressive symptoms may be related to the development of the prefrontal cortex and the role it plays in inhibiting impulsive decisions.
Posts that referred to depression included such statements as “Basically at the point of giving up” and “Feeling the worst right now, just wanting to cry.”
Before analyzing the data, the researchers thought they would find that youth were posting about vague symptoms such as fatigue and difficulty sleeping, and not symptoms that could be considered stigmatizing, such as mentioning depression outright, Miller said.
“I was surprised to find that the teens—especially in the younger age group—used phrases like ‘I’m depressed” much more often than I would have thought,” she said. “In a way, that could be interpreted as positive, because this younger generation might not feel that depression is as stigmatizing as older generations do.”
Since the group of youth studied had already been identified as suffering from oppositional defiant disorder and/or depression, Miller doesn’t think the absence of posts about depression says much about whether depressive symptoms eased up as the youth got older.
“Most of the kids in this study were suffering from mental health concerns,” said Miller. “The fact that many of them didn’t post depressive symptoms at all shows that not everyone suffering will post on social media. So kids can definitely have social media accounts that look bright and cheerful while they’re struggling—just like adults.”
According to Miller, the take-away message from the study is not necessarily that teens are less depressed as they get older, but rather that they’re not sharing it with their entire social media audience.
“In some ways,” Miller said, “this might be a good thing, because it’s showing that they’re a little more selective about who they share personal information with, especially since some of their Facebook settings were set to public. On the other hand, we still want to encourage kids to reach out, and we certainly don’t want to further stigmatize mental health or depression.
“The message I would like to send to teens,” Miller continued, “is that they should make sure to reach out—in person—and talk to a responsible adult about their symptoms if they’re struggling. This study provides some insight on how teens use social media to communicate their symptoms, but social media doesn’t replace concerned adults who can help and support in real time.”
The study was funded from multiple sources, including the National Institutes of Health. ■
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Psychiatrics News
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Published in print: October 6, 2018 – October 19, 2018
Published online: 23 October 2018
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