Adolescent Social Media Use through a Self-Determination Theory Lens: A Systematic Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

Social media is an integral part of adolescents' lives and has a strong influence on development and wellbeing. Research examining adolescent social media use and wellbeing is confusing as findings are inconsistent, inconclusive and contradictory. To address this issue, digital wellbeing scholars recommend that researchers adopt a theoretical approach with the aim of increasing meaningfulness and applicability of findings. Hence, this review applies self-determination theory to investigate how adolescent social media use supports and thwarts the basic psychological needs of relatedness, autonomy and competence. Satisfaction of all three psychological needs is essential for optimal development and wellbeing.

METHODS

A scoping review was conducted using a systematic search of five databases relating to adolescent social media use. The preferred items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (extension for scoping reviews) was applied resulting in 86 included studies.

RESULTS

Adolescent social media use both supports and thwarts relatedness, autonomy and competence. The findings highlighted how different aspects of adolescent social media use (including intra-personal, inter-personal, situational and environmental factors) contribute to the satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs.

CONCLUSIONS

This review illustrates how social media can be both beneficial and detrimental to satisfying the basic psychological needs of relatedness, autonomy and competence. This is important when considering that if psychological needs are satisfied or frustrated in adolescence, the repercussions can have a cascading effect throughout adulthood. This review identifies gaps in the literature and provides suggestions for future research.

Adolescent social media use: cultivating and constraining competence

According to self-determination theory competence is a basic psychological need that is crucial for wellbeing. Social contexts strongly influence whether competence is supported or thwarted. Given that social media is a pervasive social context within adolescents' lives, it can play a crucial role in competence development. Three qualitative methods were used to investigate mid-adolescents' perspectives of how their social media use impacts competence. Participants included 36 students aged 15 years from four Australian schools. All participants completed a rich picture mapping activity and focus group discussions. A sub-sample of 11 students participated in follow-up interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis generated two overarching themes. The first theme cultivating competence includes sub-themes; enhancing social competencies, mastery experiences and goal accomplishment, and social media expertise. The second theme constraining competence includes sub-themes; ineffectance within the social media environment, interfering with sleep, and hindering learning. Findings demonstrated that social media contributes to today's adolescents encountering unique experiences with regards to competence development. Furthermore, adolescents' interactions on social media have broad implications for competence within online and offline realms. This study identifies aspects of social media use that can be targeted to help adolescents engage with social media in ways that cultivate rather than constrain competence.

Digital Media as Sites for Cultural Identity Development: The Case of Hmong American Emerging Adults

Although academic and popular interest in how digital media affect youth has exploded in recent years, research rarely addresses the roles of culture and cultural identity in youth digital media use. Especially conspicuous is the inattention to Asian Americans—the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the United States. This study explores how 17 Hmong American emerging adults’ ( Mage = 21.94 years) digital media use shapes, and is shaped by, their cultural identity development. To construct a nuanced portrait, this study draws from multiple data sources: (a) participant framings of their digital media use in relation to their cultural identity during in-depth interviews, (b) the type of cultural content that a selection of participants posted on their social media profiles, and (c) participants’ ethnic identity scores (included to contextualize qualitative results). Inductive thematic analysis revealed that participants use digital media to explore and express their cultural identities, and to escape and reshape Hmong values. Results further revealed that participants’ digital media use elicits awareness of—and for some, assists in reconciling—tensions between Hmong and American values. Altogether, findings highlight the complex role of digital media in the cultural identity development of Hmong American youth.

"So, like, it's all a mix of one": Intersecting contexts of adolescents' ethnic-racial socialization

Cultural-ecological theories posit that ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development is shaped by transactions between contexts of ethnic-racial socialization, yet research considering intersections among multiple contexts is limited. In this study, Black, Latino, White, and Asian American adolescents (N = 98; M_age  = 16.26, SD = 1.09; 55.1% female identifying) participated in surveys and focus group discussions (2013-2014) to share insights into ERI development in context. Using consensual qualitative research, results indicated: (a) family ethnic-racial socialization intersects with community-based, peer, media, and school socialization; (b) ethnic-racial socialization occurs outside family through intersections between peer, school, community-based, and media settings; and (c) ethnic-racial socialization is embedded within systems of racial oppression across contexts. Discussion includes implications for future research and interventions supporting youth ERI.

Associations of early social media initiation on digital behaviors and the moderating role of limiting use

Little is known about the effects of social media initiation on digital behaviors from middle childhood to early adolescence, a critical developmental period marked by peer influence and inaugural access to mobile devices. Participants from middle schools in the Northeast U.S. (N=773; 11-15 years, Mean = 12.6) completed a cross-sectional survey about social media initiation, digital behaviors, and parental restrictions on digital use. Descriptive results demonstrated that overall early adolescents more frequently engaged in positive digital behaviors compared to negative ones. Results from structural equation models showed that initiating social media platforms, namely Instagram or Snapchat, in later childhood (10 years or younger) was significantly associated with problematic digital behavior outcomes compared to either tween (11-12) and/or teen (13+) initiation, including having online friends or joining social media sites parents would disapprove of, more problematic digital technology behaviors, more unsympathetic online behaviors, and greater likelihood of online harassment and sexual harassment victimization. Additionally, there is evidence to show that childhood initiators demonstrated a greater tendency to engage in supportive or civically-engaged online community behaviors compared to older initiator counterparts. Parental restriction of mobile phone use and a less frequent checking of social media ameliorated some of the negative effects.

Exploring the “Social” in Social Media: Adolescent Relatedness—Thwarted and Supported

The pervasiveness of social media in adolescents’ lives has important implications for their relationships. Considering today’s adolescents have grown up with social media, research capturing their unique perspectives of how social media impacts their relationships is needed to increase understanding and help guide behaviors that nurture social-connectedness. Utilizing multiple qualitative methods, this study explores adolescents’ perspectives of how their social media use impacts their relationships. The sample comprised 36, Year 9 students aged 15 years from four metropolitan schools in Melbourne, Australia. All participants completed a rich picture mapping activity and focus group discussions. To gain deeper understandings, a sub-sample of 11 adolescents participated in subsequent one-on-one interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis generated two overarching themes (1) developing and strengthening relationships and (2) diminishing relationships. Sub-themes included; making new friends, maintaining relationships, deepening connections, enhancing belonging, rifts and strains, and anti-social behavior. Findings revealed nuanced insights into “how” and “why” adolescents believe social media impacts relationships. Adolescents explained that social media transforms interactions through amplifying and intensifying relational experiences resulting in both beneficial and detrimental outcomes for their relationships. Cultivating the positive aspects of adolescents’ social media use whilst mitigating the negative is important toward supporting relatedness and fostering wellbeing.

Policy Recommendations for Preventing Problematic Internet Use in Schools: A Qualitative Study of Parental Perspectives

Parenting in the digital age has been characterized as one of the most challenging tasks of the modern era. Parents are ambivalent about their mediating role. However, problematic aspects of adolescent online use have not been adequately addressed in education. The present study investigated parental perceptions of intervention needs within schools to prevent excessive/problematic use, enhance parent-child communication, and reduce family conflicts. Nine interviews with parents of adolescents residing in the UK were carried out and analyzed utilizing thematic analysis. Three main themes emerged as parental proposals: (i) schools as digital education providers and prevention hubs, (ii) provision of mental health literacy to raise awareness, resolve ambiguity regarding impacts and mitigate excessive use and impacts, and (iii) psychoeducation and upskilling. The third theme related to impacts from time spent on screens (time displacement), content-related impacts, and context-related impacts. The present study offers recommendations for media literacy during adolescence beyond e-safety (i.e., addressing interpersonal communication problems, privacy vs. disclosure issues), based on parents' views, and provides new insights for media and emotional health literacy collaboration efforts. Future work should investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of such interventions to support the emotional health of young people and prevent problematic internet use escalation.

Mind over Matter: Testing the Efficacy of an Online Randomized Controlled Trial to Reduce Distraction from Smartphone Use

Evidence suggests a growing call for the prevention of excessive smartphone and social media use and the ensuing distraction that arises affecting academic achievement and productivity. A ten-day online randomized controlled trial with the use of smartphone apps, engaging participants in mindfulness exercises, self-monitoring and mood tracking, was implemented amongst UK university students (n = 143). Participants were asked to complete online pre- and post-intervention assessments. Results indicated high effect sizes in reduction of smartphone distraction and improvement scores on a number of self-reported secondary psychological outcomes. The intervention was not effective in reducing habitual behaviours, nomophobia, or time spent on social media. Mediation analyses demonstrated that: (i) emotional self-awareness but not mindful attention mediated the relationship between intervention effects and smartphone distraction, and (ii) online vigilance mediated the relationship between smartphone distraction and problematic social media use. The present study provides preliminary evidence of the efficacy of an intervention for decreased smartphone distraction and highlights psychological processes involved in this emergent phenomenon in the smartphone literature. Online interventions may serve as complementary strategies to reduce distraction levels and promote insight into online engagement. More research is required to elucidate the mechanisms of digital distraction and assess its implications in problematic use.