The rapid evolution of social media has profoundly impacted adolescent psychosocial development. With a substantial increase in social media use among young people, evidenced by a two-fold rise in the number of adolescents online ‘almost constantly’ (Pew Research Centre,
2022) since 2014, there has been an increasing interest in how these platforms influence youth mental health. Despite growing research, inconsistencies remain in linking social media behaviors with mental health outcomes, often due to the oversimplification of effects by examining social media use and neglecting the bidirectional relationship between mental health and social media behaviors. This study aims to address these gaps by employing random intercept cross-lagged panel models to explore the bidirectional relationships between different social media behaviors—interactive (two-way communication such as calling, messaging, or chatting) and passive use (one-way engagement by reading and viewing content without interaction Kaye,
2021)—and internalizing difficulties among young people.
Youth Psychosocial Development in the Context of Social Media
Young people are disproportionately affected by mental health concerns, due to a combination of biological and social developmental changes occurring during adolescence and early adulthood (Ogden & Hagen,
2018). Recent evidence suggests that approximately 62.5% of all serious mental health difficulties emerge before the age of 25 (Solmi et al.,
2022), with reports that the prevalence of youth mental health difficulties has grown steadily over the past two decades (Collishaw,
2015; Fusar-Poli,
2019; Wiens et al.,
2020). Given the enduring functional impact of mental health difficulties on the lives of young people (Scott et al.,
2014), it is crucial to enhance our understanding of the factors influencing youth mental health. One such factor that has gained particular attention in recent decades is social media use (Keles et al.,
2019; Valkenburg et al.,
2022).
Social media use, encompassing the use of platforms for online content creation, sharing, and interaction (Kietzmann et al.,
2011) is continually evolving. In recent years, the exponential rise of social media has fundamentally transformed how young people engage with the world around them. Young people are among the highest users of social media platforms, with recent data showing a two-fold increase in the number of 13–17-year-olds who report being online ‘almost constantly’ from 2014–2015 to 2022 (24 to 46%; Pew Research Centre,
2022). Social media now plays a pivotal role in the social development of adolescents and emerging adulthood by facilitating communication and interaction crucial for friendship formation. These interactions are essential for young people’s social development, providing opportunities to build, maintain, and strengthen peer relationships (Nesi et al.,
2018b,
2018a). Moreover, emerging research identifies social media as a critical facilitator of identity exploration and self-concept development (Andalibi et al.,
2017; Lee & Borah,
2020; Pérez-Torres,
2024) offering a platform for experimenting with roles, receiving feedback on self-presentation, and navigating the core developmental tasks of adolescence and emerging adulthood. However, this increase in social media use has also raised concerns and is suggested to be a contributing factor to the recent reported increases in youth mental health difficulties (Twenge et al.
2018).
The Mental Health Impact of Social Media and The Need for Specificity in Terminology
A growing body of research has explored the relationship between social media use and mental health. Cross-sectional studies have provided insight into associations between overall social media use and internalizing difficulties, often highlighting negative effects, particularly for young girls (Svensson et al.,
2022; Twenge & Martin,
2020). These studies, however, fail to address causal relationships and cannot account for within-person dynamic associations over time.
Still, longitudinal studies in this area have produced mixed findings. Some have demonstrated small to moderate positive associations between total time spent on social media and internalizing difficulties, such as anxiety and depression, during adolescence and emerging adulthood, especially for young girls (Leo et al.,
2021; Riehm et al.,
2019; Thorisdottir et al.
2019). Conversely, other longitudinal studies have found no significant associations between overall social media use and internalizing difficulties over time (Jensen et al.,
2019; Nesi et al.,
2017). These inconsistencies likely arise from oversimplified definitions of total social media use.
Although understanding that social media behaviors often co-occur, recent literature distinguishes between several types of social media behaviors, including interactive, broadcasting (posting), reactive (liking, commenting), and passive use (Kaye,
2021). Moving from the more simplistic dual distinguishing of active and passive social media use (Verduyn et al.,
2017), this approach acknowledges the user as either a sender or recipient of information online. While users can never be truly “passive” (Livingstone,
2014), newer classifications describe passive social media use as a one-way interaction, where users primarily consume information by reading and viewing pages, feeds, sites, and timelines. In contrast, truly interactive behaviors include two-way engagements such as calling, messaging, or chatting. Despite these recent distinctions in social media behavior, the body of longitudinal multi-wave studies examining these behaviors and mental health remains scarce and where there is an investigation, findings have again been mixed to some extent. For example, passive social media use has been associated with increased levels of depression over time (Wang et al.,
2019). On the other hand, a prior investigation using 2016 and 2017 data from the LISS longitudinal panel under investigation in the current study in years previou
s, showed that passively viewing, and interactively communicating, were not associated with depression and anxiety one month or one year later in a subgroup of 16–24-year-olds (van der Velden et al.,
2019).
A number of theories dominate the literature regarding social media use and mental health difficulties. The social displacement hypothesis (Kraut et al.,
1998) proposes that social media use poses a risk to youth mental health, because time spent on internet technologies may displace protective and health-promoting activities such as in-person time spent socially engaging with friends and family (Dworkin et al.,
2018; Twenge et al.,
2019). In particular, passive viewing of feeds and timelines on social media use has been shown to contribute to feelings of missing out (FOMO), increased upward social comparison, exposure to harmful material online, and in turn internalizing difficulties (Hall et al.,
2019; Oberst et al.,
2017). In contrast, the enhanced self-disclosure hypothesis (Valkenburg & Peter,
2009), argues that online communication relative to face-to-face interactions allows for increased uninhibited self-disclosure. This increased self-disclosure is thought to enhance a young person’s social network by increasing perceived social support and connectedness (Huang,
2016), and in turn, decreasing internalizing difficulties (Niederhoffer & Pennebaker,
2009; Pennebaker,
1997). Social media’s impact on mental health can be complex and multifaceted, with both displacement and enhanced self-disclosure contributing to different aspects of adolescent adjustment. While passive use may pose risks, interactive use can offer benefits, and both may interact in ways that affect mental health outcomes differently.
Bidirectional Associations Between Social Media Behaviors and Youth Mental Health
Evidence suggests a bidirectional relationship between social media use and internalizing difficulties, with young people experiencing higher levels of depression and anxiety often engaging more with social media (Orsolini et al.,
2022; Primack et al.,
2011; Toma,
2022; Weidman et al.,
2012). However, many longitudinal that have investigated this relationship have focused predominantly on overall social media use (Coyne et al.,
2020; Kelly et al.,
2018; Li et al.,
2018; Tang et al.,
2021; Tian et al.,
2017). Among the studies that have disaggregated social media behaviors, findings have been inconsistent. For instance, Cheng et al.,
2023 found that passively viewing friend’s social media sites predicted higher levels of depression but this did not apply in reverse. Similarly, Wang et al. (
2018) found bidirectional associations between passive social media use and subjective wellbeing, such that increases in passive use predicted decreases in subjective wellbeing, and decreases in subjective wellbeing predicted increased passive use.
Furthermore, the importance of interaction for youth social development cannot be overstated, as evidence supports positive peer, friend, romantic partner, and family interaction as associated with reductions in internalizing difficulties such as anxiety and depression (Long et al.,
2020; Zapf et al.,
2024). Interactive communication on social media, such as messaging and chatting can play a crucial role in fostering these social connections, providing emotional support, and enhancing self-esteem (Bonetti et al.,
2010; Davis,
2012; Dolev-Cohen & Barak,
2013; Prescott et al.,
2017). Similarly, the social compensation hypothesis (Kraut et al.,
1998) suggests that those young people experiencing depression or anxiety might prefer to communicate online in an attempt to compensate for the potential lack of offline social interactions (Desjarlais & Joseph,
2017). Within the longitudinal literature, very few studies have examined the specific impacts of social media behaviors. However, some research has indicated that online chatting can predict higher self-esteem and reduced depression, particularly among more introverted young people (Van Zalk et al.,
2011). Similarly, private messaging on platforms like Facebook has been identified as a protective factor against internalizing difficulties in adolescents, largely due to increased perceived social support (Frison et al.,
2019). These findings suggest that interactive social media behaviors, such as chatting and private messaging, may play a beneficial role in mitigating internalizing difficulties.
The Predominant Focus on Between-Person Associations
The longitudinal literature to date on social media use has predominantly focused on between-person approaches, that is, examining how average trends evolve across the total study sample over time. This approach, often referred to as group-level or between-person analysis, neglects the potential for individual-level variations over time, obscuring the potential impact of social media use on internalizing difficulties at the individual level. Within-person approaches, on the other hand, statistically account for additional variance at the individual level, that is, how an individual’s scores on a particular construct vary when compared to their scores at previous time points. Within the context of social media research, examining these within-person associations is critical due to the potential significant individual variation in both social media usage patterns and mental health profiles. Each young person’s unique engagement with social media and their distinct mental health experiences may lead to different outcomes, thus capturing these individual variations may provide better insights into the relationship between social media behaviors and internalizing difficulties. In the limited studies disaggregating between-person and within-person associations, again the focus has been on overall social media or internet use rather than distinct social media activities (Coyne et al.,
2020; Fitzpatrick et al.,
2023; Marciano et al.,
2022).