Emerging adults' digital technology engagement and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Front Psychol
; 13: 1023514, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2154815
ABSTRACT
Within the past decade, parents, scientists, and policy makers have sought to understand how digital technology engagement may exacerbate or ameliorate young people's mental health symptoms, a concern that has intensified amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous research has been far from conclusive, and a lack of research consensus may stem in part from widely varying measurement strategies (including subjective and objective measurement) around digital technology engagement. In a cross-sectional study of 323 university students, the present study seeks to understand the ways in which youth engagement with digital technology - across subjective and objective measurements, weekday and weekend distinctions, and social and non-social uses - is associated with mental health (as measured by depression, loneliness, and multidimensional mood and anxiety). The present study also tested a differential susceptibility hypothesis to examine whether COVID-19 related social isolation might exacerbate the potential harms or helps of digital technology engagement. Results yielded few observed associations between digital technology engagement and mental health, with little evidence of detrimental effects of observed or perceived time spent on digital technology. Rather, those significant findings which did emerge underscore potential protections conferred by social connections with friends (both online and offline), and that the loneliest students may be the most likely to be reaching out for these types of connections. It is important that the field move beyond crude (largely self-reported) measures of screen time to instead understand how and to what effect youth are using digital technologies, especially during the social corridor of emerging adulthood.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Language:
English
Journal:
Front Psychol
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Fpsyg.2022.1023514
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