758 - In Real Life: The Impact of Social Media Use and Physical Activity On Adolescent Depression

Publication Number: 758.5357

Olivia Triplett, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Cambria L. Garell, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Natacha Emerson, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Background: The relationship between sleep disturbance and depression is well established. Besides sleep, other behaviors have been shown to impact risk for depression. Adequate physical activity may support healthy sleep and protect against mood symptoms in adolescents. By contrast, social media use has been shown to potentiate risk for psychological maladjustment in teenagers. What remains unclear is whether the effects of social media and physical activity on depression are independent from the effects of sleep.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of social media use and physical activity on depression, after controlling for sex, race, and school night sleep duration in a large adolescent post COVID-19 pandemic sample.

Design/Methods: Data were taken from the school-based 2023 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which assesses health risk behaviors among youth in the United States. Our sample contained 20,103 participants aged 12-18 (50.4% male, 60.8% Caucasian). We ran a hierarchical binomial logistic regression analysis to predict risk of depression. Social media use was categorized as high if participants reported checking social media several times per day. Physical activity was categorized as insufficient if participants reported ≤ 2 days of exercise per week.

Results: The odds of having depression were 138.2% higher for adolescents who reported less than seven hours of nightly sleep during the school week, 95% CI [2.213, 2.564], p< .001. After controlling for the effects of sleep duration, the odds of having depression were 36.4% greater for those with high social media use (95% CI [1.243, 1.496], p< .001) and 33.1% greater for those that reported insufficient physical activity engagement (95% CI [1.229, 1.440], p < .001).

Conclusion(s): Results indicate that adolescents with high daily social media use and insufficient weekly physical activity were more likely to experience depression than their counterparts, above and beyond participants’ sleep duration. Our results provide evidence for counseling patients on sleep, social media, and physical activity. One limitation of this study is its reliance on self-report. Future research should focus on additional factors that may impact this relationship, including mental health comorbidities (e.g., anxiety), quality of social support, and individual ability to engage in coping skills and emotion regulation. Additionally, future researchers should employ experimental and longitudinal designs to better understand the potential bidirectional relationships between these variables.

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