34.2 Digital Stress and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A New Multifaceted Stressor in the 21st Century

ObjectivesIn the span of a generation, adolescents’ interpersonal relationships have transformed, now mostly mediated by electronic means of communication, and largely occurring via digital media platforms (eg, texting, social network communities, video sharing sites). In the past decade, most related research has examined how the duration of adolescents’ use of digital media is associated with indices of psychological adjustment or distress, yielding mostly equivocal results. More recent research, including the present study, examines how specific types of behaviors or experiences uniquely facilitated by digital media may increase risk for a subset or for all youth.MethodsThis study examined “digital stress” as an additional dimension of digital media usage that rarely has been quantified among adolescents, despite known psychological and biological vulnerabilities heightening the salience of social interactions at the pubertal transition. Defined within the literature as subjective distress related to social media demands, expectations, and others’ approval, theoretical work suggests that, as with other interpersonally themed stressors, digital stress may confer risk for psychological symptoms, such as depression; however, prospective longitudinal work has not been conducted with adolescents. A large (n = 680) and diverse (60% non-White; 49% female) sample of adolescents (aged 13-15 years) completed measures of digital stress, depressive symptoms, and peer nominations to assess social acceptance and popularity.ResultsNearly half of the participants reported digital stress at least “sometimes.” Higher levels of digital stress were associated with greater social media use and importance, more importance ascribed to peer relationships, and higher levels of popularity. Digital stress was also associated longitudinally with increases in depressive symptoms over 12 months, after controlling for prior depression.ConclusionsResults suggest that constant notifications, cognitive overload, and interpersonal demands may be a significant source of stress for frequent digital media users, with potentially significant psychological sequelae. This is a new source of modern-day stress for adolescents that requires further study and clinical consideration.STRESS, DDD, CUL ObjectivesIn the span of a generation, adolescents’ interpersonal relationships have transformed, now mostly mediated by electronic means of communication, and largely occurring via digital media platforms (eg, texting, social network communities, video sharing sites). In the past decade, most related research has examined how the duration of adolescents’ use of digital media is associated with indices of psychological adjustment or distress, yielding mostly equivocal results. More recent research, including the present study, examines how specific types of behaviors or experiences uniquely facilitated by digital media may increase risk for a subset or for all youth. In the span of a generation, adolescents’ interpersonal relationships have transformed, now mostly mediated by electronic means of communication, and largely occurring via digital media platforms (eg, texting, social network communities, video sharing sites). In the past decade, most related research has examined how the duration of adolescents’ use of digital media is associated with indices of psychological adjustment or distress, yielding mostly equivocal results. More recent research, including the present study, examines how specific types of behaviors or experiences uniquely facilitated by digital media may increase risk for a subset or for all youth. MethodsThis study examined “digital stress” as an additional dimension of digital media usage that rarely has been quantified among adolescents, despite known psychological and biological vulnerabilities heightening the salience of social interactions at the pubertal transition. Defined within the literature as subjective distress related to social media demands, expectations, and others’ approval, theoretical work suggests that, as with other interpersonally themed stressors, digital stress may confer risk for psychological symptoms, such as depression; however, prospective longitudinal work has not been conducted with adolescents. A large (n = 680) and diverse (60% non-White; 49% female) sample of adolescents (aged 13-15 years) completed measures of digital stress, depressive symptoms, and peer nominations to assess social acceptance and popularity. This study examined “digital stress” as an additional dimension of digital media usage that rarely has been quantified among adolescents, despite known psychological and biological vulnerabilities heightening the salience of social interactions at the pubertal transition. Defined within the literature as subjective distress related to social media demands, expectations, and others’ approval, theoretical work suggests that, as with other interpersonally themed stressors, digital stress may confer risk for psychological symptoms, such as depression; however, prospective longitudinal work has not been conducted with adolescents. A large (n = 680) and diverse (60% non-White; 49% female) sample of adolescents (aged 13-15 years) completed measures of digital stress, depressive symptoms, and peer nominations to assess social acceptance and popularity. ResultsNearly half of the participants reported digital stress at least “sometimes.” Higher levels of digital stress were associated with greater social media use and importance, more importance ascribed to peer relationships, and higher levels of popularity. Digital stress was also associated longitudinally with increases in depressive symptoms over 12 months, after controlling for prior depression. Nearly half of the participants reported digital stress at least “sometimes.” Higher levels of digital stress were associated with greater social media use and importance, more importance ascribed to peer relationships, and higher levels of popularity. Digital stress was also associated longitudinally with increases in depressive symptoms over 12 months, after controlling for prior depression. ConclusionsResults suggest that constant notifications, cognitive overload, and interpersonal demands may be a significant source of stress for frequent digital media users, with potentially significant psychological sequelae. This is a new source of modern-day stress for adolescents that requires further study and clinical consideration.STRESS, DDD, CUL Results suggest that constant notifications, cognitive overload, and interpersonal demands may be a significant source of stress for frequent digital media users, with potentially significant psychological sequelae. This is a new source of modern-day stress for adolescents that requires further study and clinical consideration.