Can social connections become stressful? Exploring the link between social media use and perceived stress in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of 25,053 adults

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flowchart of the study population for the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

Table 1. Baseline characteristics according to the frequency of social media use in a population of 25,053 Danish adults from the SmartSleep study.

	Frequency of social media use
	Never	Low^a	Medium^b	High^c	Total	p value
Total	2062 (8)	4556 (18)	12,342 (49)	6093 (24)	25,053 (100)
Gender^d						<.001
Female	957 (46)	2515 (55)	7998 (65)	3994 (66)	15,464 (62)
Male	1105 (54)	2039 (45)	4328 (35)	2092 (34)	9564 (38)
Age (years)	56.8 ± 12.3	51.3 ± 12.7	42.8 ± 14.1	32.0 ± 12.2	42.8 ± 15.3	<.001
Educational level						<.001
Low education	104 (5)	172 (4)	698 (6)	817 (13)	1791 (7)
Medium education	466 (23)	856 (19)	3035 (25)	1912 (31)	6269 (25)
High education	1430 (69)	3400 (75)	8347 (68)	3277 (54)	16,454 (66)
Other education	62 (3)	128 (3)	262 (2)	87 (1)	539 (2)
Occupational status						<.001
Employed	1211 (59)	3241 (71)	8583 (70)	3231 (53)	16,266 (65)
Unemployed	39 (2)	112 (3)	336 (3)	183 (3)	670 (3)
Student	36 (2)	198 (4)	1679 (14)	2231 (37)	4144 (17)
Outside labour market	692 (34)	803 (18)	1112 (9)	152 (3)	2759 (11)
Longterm sick leave	18 (1)	61 (1)	189 (2)	84 (1)	352 (1)
Other	66 (3)	141 (3)	443 (4)	212 (4)	862 (3)
Cohabitation status						<.001
Living alone	529 (26)	858 (19)	2356 (19)	1269 (21)	5012 (20)
Not living alone	1533 (74)	3698 (81)	9986 (81)	4824 (79)	20,041 (80)
Frequently used social media platforms	0 ± 0	2.2 ± 1.2	3.3 ± 1.5	4.2 ± 1.5	3.1 ± 1.8	<.001

Data presented as N(%) or mean ± SD values. Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding. P-values from χ² or ANOVA test.

aOnce a day or less.

^bSeveral times a day.

cEvery second hour or more.

^d Other, N total = 25.

Figure 2. Associations between social media use, perceived stress, and changes in perceived stress. Perceived stress was measured using PSS-4 ranging from 0 to 16. Estimates were adjusted for gender, age, educational level, occupational status, and cohabitation.

Figure 3. Associations between use of specific social media platforms, perceived stress, and changes in perceived stress. Perceived stress was measured using PSS-4 ranging from 0 to 16. Estimates were adjusted for gender, age, educational level, occupational status, cohabitation, and use of the other social media platforms.

Data availability statement

Data supporting the findings of this study are not publicly available due to privacy concerns of the participants. For further information, contact the corresponding author.