Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media
Date
2022
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Abstract
The relationship between social media use and life satisfaction changes across adolescent
development. Our analyses of two UK datasets comprising 84,011 participants (10–80 years
old) find that the cross-sectional relationship between self-reported estimates of social media
use and life satisfaction ratings is most negative in younger adolescents. Furthermore, sex
differences in this relationship are only present during this time. Longitudinal analyses of
17,409 participants (10–21 years old) suggest distinct developmental windows of sensitivity
to social media in adolescence, when higher estimated social media use predicts a decrease
in life satisfaction ratings one year later (and vice-versa: lower estimated social media use
predicts an increase in life satisfaction ratings). These windows occur at different ages for
males (14–15 and 19 years old) and females (11–13 and 19 years old). Decreases in life
satisfaction ratings also predicted subsequent increases in estimated social media use,
however, these were not associated with age or sex.