Association of social media content and mental health impact among adolescents
Keywords:
Exposure to negative media content, health impacts, Thai adolescentsAbstract
The purpose of this cross-sectional descriptive study was to examine the association between social media content exposure and mental health outcomes among adolescents. The study was conducted among university students in the eastern region of Thailand. A multistage random sampling technique was used to recruit a sample of 379 participants. Data were collected using an online questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression, with results reported as adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals.
The results indicated that most participants were exposed to positive social media content, particularly comedic content (61.1%), while 41.8% reported exposure to negative content, such as crime-related information. Exposure to negative content was significantly associated with several mental health outcomes. Adolescents who frequently engaged with negative content were more likely to experience imitative behavior (AOR = 2.518, 95% CI: 1.570–4.039), mood swings (AOR = 1.959, 95% CI: 1.199–3.202), anxiety (AOR = 1.824, 95% CI: 1.131–2.943), irritability (AOR = 1.659, 95% CI: 1.005–2.738), and difficulty concentrating (AOR = 1.639, 95% CI: 1.016–2.645).
The findings suggest that the type of social media content consumed by adolescents is associated with their emotional and mental health status. These results highlight the importance of promoting positive media content exposure and strengthening digital media literacy to mitigate potential adverse mental health effects.
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