Mats Ramstedt

Research problem and specific questionsThere is growing concern that use of social media can have negative effects on young people’s development, and can lead to depression, substance use and poor school performance. However, recent reviews have highlighted the lack of high-quality longitudinal studies that examine potential negative effects in a scientifically rigorous manner. As we move beyond examining the consequences of social media use in general adolescent populations, the next step is to identify subgroups that are particularly vulnerable to negative consequences of social media. Also, engagement in different social media activities might have different consequences, and different consequences for different adolescents. However, few high-quality studies have examined these questions.  The proposed project has three specific objectives: 1) To examine the directionality and magnitude of the associations between social media use and depression, alcohol use and school performance. 2) To identify subgroups for whom social media use has negative, neutral and positive effects. 3) To examine which types of social media activities might be associated with negative or positive outcomes, in both the general adolescent populations, and in subgroups of adolescents.Data and methodsWe will analyse data from two large longitudinal studies from Sweden and Norway that are among the first to include multiple measurements for social media use as well as validated measures of mental health, alcohol use and school performance. State of the art statistical methods such as random intercept cross-lagged panel models, and growth curve modeling will be used to analyse the data.Societal relevance and utilisationThe project will greatly improve the basis on which parents, teachers and policy makers make decisions about social media. If the results show strong negative consequences of social media use in the general populations of adolescents, universal prevention strategies and structural limitations on social media might be in order. If negative consequence are evident only in certain subgroups, more focussed prevention might be in order. No negative effect will mean little need for prevention efforts.Plan for project realisationOur team has direct access to already collected research data, and has sufficient methodological knowhow and research experience to execute this ambitions but realistic project in time, and to disseminate the the results to the wider community.