Perceived Social Support from Different Sources and Adolescent Life Satisfaction Across 42 Countries/Regions: The Moderating Role of National-Level Generalized Trust.

Although previous research established a positive association between perceived social support and adolescent life satisfaction, little is known about the relative importance of different sources of support for adolescent life satisfaction and cross-country variations in this respect. Using large-scale representative samples from the 2017/18 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, this study examined to what extent the association between social support and life satisfaction in early adolescence varied across different social sources and countries. Also, it examined whether cross-country variations are explained by national-level generalized trust, a sociocultural factor that shapes adolescent socialization. National-level data were linked to data from 183,918 early adolescents (Mage = 13.56, SD = 1.63, 52% girls) from 42 European and North American countries/regions obtained from HBSC. Multilevel regression analyses yielded a positive association between support from different sources and life satisfaction. The strongest associations were found for support from families, followed by teachers and classmates, and weakest for support from friends. Associations varied across different countries/regions. National-level trust amplified the association between perceived classmate support and adolescent life satisfaction. The revealed cross-country differences open avenues for future cross-cultural research on explanations for cross-cultural differences in the association between social support from different sources and life satisfaction in early adolescence.

Social Media Use, Social Media Stress, and Sleep: Examining Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Relationships in Adolescents.

There are concerns that social media (SM) use and SM stress may disrupt sleep. However, evidence on both the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships is limited. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to address this gap in the literature by examining the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between SM use, SM stress, and sleep (i.e., sleep latency and daytime sleepiness) in adolescents. In total, 1,441 adolescents 11-15 years, 51% boys) filled out a survey in at least one of three waves that were three to four months apart (NWave1 = 1,241; NWave2 = 1,216; NWave3 = 1,103). Cross-sectionally, we found that SM use and SM stress were positively related to sleep latency and daytime sleepiness. However, when examined together, SM use was not a significant predictor of sleep latency and daytime sleepiness above the effects of SM stress. The longitudinal findings showed that SM stress was positively related to subsequent sleep latency and daytime sleepiness, but only among girls. Our findings stress that it is important to focus on how adolescents perceive and cope with their SM use, instead of focusing on the mere frequency of SM use.