Issue link: https://blog.providence.org/i/1009460
Hopelab & Well Being Trust 66 Specific Actions Taken on Social Media, by Depressive Symptoms One question this survey wanted to explore was whether young people with depressive symptoms report using social media differently than others do, including whether they engage in various common social-media actions at a different frequency than their peers. Accord- ingly, the survey asked respondents to report how often they "like" or comment on other people's posts, browse others' feeds without liking or commenting on them, send private messages to people, create and share original content, share content created by others, post selfies, and delete things they previously posted. Of all these actions, the only one that youth with current moderate to severe depressive symptoms report doing with a different frequency than those without any symptoms is "like" other people's posts: 62% of young social media users with moderate to severe depressive symp- toms often do that, compared to 47% of non-depressed social media users. There are also no statistically significant differences in how often the two groups say they post content in general (29% of moder- ate-to-severely depressed social media users post content to social media daily, compared to 32% of non-depressed users.) In-person vs. Online Communication, by Depressive Symptoms One interesting difference between the two groups is that those with moderate to severe depression are more likely to say they prefer communicating with people through social media than in person (42% agree with that statement, compared to 25% of youth with no depressive symptoms), including 17% who "strongly agree" (compared to 4% of non-depressed youth). Source: Hopelab/Well Being Trust Teens and Young Adults Survey, February-March 2018. N=1,242 social media users ages 14-22. Note: Superscripts are used to denote statistical significance across rows at p<.05. Items with no superscripts, and items that share a common superscript, are not significantly different. Table 13: Active v. passive social media use, by depressive symptoms Among 14- to 22-year-old social media users None Mild Moderate to severe Percent who post to social media "daily" 32% 28% 29% Percent who "often": "Like" other people's posts Comment on other people's posts Direct message others Create and share original content Share links to others' content Browse others' posts without liking or commenting 47%ª 18% 28% 18% 13% 24%ª 44%ª 15% 33% 15% 16% 36% b 62% b 16% 29% 20% 18% 32% Post selfies 9% 8% 17% Social Media Use and Mental Well-Being Social Media Use Among Young People With and Without Depressive Symptoms Depressive symptoms