Self-esteem only goes so far: the moderating effect of social media screen time on self-esteem and depressive symptoms

ABSTRACT

This study assessed the independent association of self-esteem and social media screen time on depressive symptoms, as well as the moderating role of social media screen time in the relationship between self-esteem and depressive symptoms. The Mobile Screen Time Project was a cross-sectional, web-based survey conducted from March to May of 2019. 437 U.S. college students were recruited via social networks from two institutions of higher education. Multivariable logistic regression assessed the associations between self-esteem and average daily social media time with depressive symptoms; an interaction effect was explored. Self-esteem had an inverse association (AOR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.80–0.94) and daily social media time had a significant association with depressive symptoms (AOR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.02–1.22) after adjusting for sexual and gender status, race/ethnicity, age, social status, and insomnia. We found a significant moderating effect (p = 0.016) of daily social media time. The more time spent on social media, the less protective self-esteem was against depressive symptoms. Those suffering from depressive symptoms or low self-esteem may benefit from reducing their social media use, intentionally exposing themselves to positive content and leveraging peer-to-peer social support through social media to create a sense of belonging.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• depressive symptoms
• self-esteem
• college students
• emotional response
• user psychology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health [award number 1R15MH124033-01A1]. The funders had no role in the design, implementation, analysis, or writing of this study. The views and opinions contained in the publication do not necessarily reflect those of the National Institute of Health or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.