A narrative review on the association between social networking site use and adverse mental health outcomes on young adults

Abstract

With the exponential rise in the usage of Social Networking Sites (SNS) over the past decade, research has been directed towards exploring the mental health outcomes associated with excessive SNS usage. This paper critically reviews how SNS usage affects one’s risk for depression and substance abuse. Articles were obtained from numerous online databases and all relevant studies were included in the review. Through the analysis of 44 studies conducted on young adults aged 18 to 29 years, we have found that the relationship between SNS usage and substance abuse to be more robust than depression, with most papers indicating that excessive SNS usage will increase one’s tendency to abuse substances. On the other hand, findings for the relationship between SNS usage and depression were mixed. Even though these findings are useful for providing readers with a comprehensive overview of how SNS usage can influence depression and substance abuse, findings should still be interpreted with caution as few studies have examined causality. Potential areas of future research include adopting longitudinal study designs to better determine the directionality between SNS usage and adverse mental health outcomes. In addition to that, interventions can be designed to ameliorate these negative effects.