Social networking site use, depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescents: evidence from a longitudinal cohort study (SCAMP)
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
The growing and pervasive use of social network sites (SNS) has raised concerns about their impact on adolescent mental health during this sensitive developmental phase. Existing longitudinal studies are constrained by methodological limitations and limited exploration of underlying mechanisms. We investigated the longitudinal associations between SNS use and depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescents and whether sleep mediated these associations.
Methods
We analysed longitudinal data from 2350 adolescents from 31 schools in London, participating in the Study of Cognition, Adolescents, and Mobile Phones (SCAMP). The exposure was self-reported duration of SNS use at baseline (aged 11–12 years). Outcomes were depressive and anxiety symptoms at follow-up, analysed as symptom severity and clinically significant symptoms (aged 13–15 years). The associations between SNS use and depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed via multi-level ordinal logistic regression (symptom severity) and logistic regression (clinically significant symptoms). The mediation effects of insufficient sleep, sleep onset latency, and sleep disturbance were assessed by mediation analysis.
Results
Compared to 0–30 min per day, more than 3 h per day of SNS use at baseline was associated with higher severity levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.47, 95% CI 1.12, 1.93 and OR = 1.40, 95% CI 1.06, 1.83, respectively) and clinically significant depressive and anxiety symptoms at follow-up (OR = 1.70, 95% CI 1.19, 2.42 and OR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.11, 2.31, respectively). The associations between total and weekend SNS use and depressive symptom severity were stronger in girls than boys. Other associations were similar by gender. Insufficient sleep duration (particularly on weekdays) and sleep onset latency at baseline partly mediated the associations of SNS use and depressive and anxiety symptoms (proportion of mediation ranged between 11.1% and 33.1%). The mediation effects of sleep disturbance were less marked.
Conclusions
In a large longitudinal cohort, we found that SNS use exceeding 3 h per day is associated with increased risks of depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescents. Findings from mediation analysis suggest that addressing poor sleep hygiene in relation to SNS use might mitigate the negative impact of high SNS use. Our findings may inform the development of early secondary school curricula incorporating digital literacy and sleep hygiene education.
The growing and pervasive use of social network sites (SNS) has raised concerns about their impact on adolescent mental health during this sensitive developmental phase. Existing longitudinal studies are constrained by methodological limitations and limited exploration of underlying mechanisms. We investigated the longitudinal associations between SNS use and depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescents and whether sleep mediated these associations.
Methods
We analysed longitudinal data from 2350 adolescents from 31 schools in London, participating in the Study of Cognition, Adolescents, and Mobile Phones (SCAMP). The exposure was self-reported duration of SNS use at baseline (aged 11–12 years). Outcomes were depressive and anxiety symptoms at follow-up, analysed as symptom severity and clinically significant symptoms (aged 13–15 years). The associations between SNS use and depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed via multi-level ordinal logistic regression (symptom severity) and logistic regression (clinically significant symptoms). The mediation effects of insufficient sleep, sleep onset latency, and sleep disturbance were assessed by mediation analysis.
Results
Compared to 0–30 min per day, more than 3 h per day of SNS use at baseline was associated with higher severity levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.47, 95% CI 1.12, 1.93 and OR = 1.40, 95% CI 1.06, 1.83, respectively) and clinically significant depressive and anxiety symptoms at follow-up (OR = 1.70, 95% CI 1.19, 2.42 and OR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.11, 2.31, respectively). The associations between total and weekend SNS use and depressive symptom severity were stronger in girls than boys. Other associations were similar by gender. Insufficient sleep duration (particularly on weekdays) and sleep onset latency at baseline partly mediated the associations of SNS use and depressive and anxiety symptoms (proportion of mediation ranged between 11.1% and 33.1%). The mediation effects of sleep disturbance were less marked.
Conclusions
In a large longitudinal cohort, we found that SNS use exceeding 3 h per day is associated with increased risks of depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescents. Findings from mediation analysis suggest that addressing poor sleep hygiene in relation to SNS use might mitigate the negative impact of high SNS use. Our findings may inform the development of early secondary school curricula incorporating digital literacy and sleep hygiene education.
Date Issued
2026-02-04
Date Acceptance
2026-01-22
Citation
BMC Medicine, 2026, 24 (1)
ISSN
1741-7015
Publisher
BMC
Journal / Book Title
BMC Medicine
Volume
24
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/41629906
PII: 10.1186/s12916-026-04667-5
Subjects
Adolescent
Anxiety symptoms
Depressive symptoms
Longitudinal cohort study
Mediation analysis
Sleep
Social network site
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
139
Date Publish Online
2026-02-03