Cognition and Emotion Research Group, School of Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Soc Sci Med. 2024 Nov;361:117400. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117400. Epub 2024 Oct 4.
Social media use (SMU) has been associated with negative mental health outcomes and has been implicated in inhibitory attentional control deficits. However, findings have been inconsistent, in part due to methodological limitations in past studies (e.g., over-reliance on self-report SMU and attentional control measures). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the associations between SMU, psychological distress (including depression, anxiety, and stress), and inhibitory attentional control, using objective measures of SMU and inhibitory attentional control. Participants (N = 425) completed the DASS-21 and an antisaccade task, and SMU data was accessed via mobile phones, as minutes/week spent using TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter/X. Bivariate correlations were examined, and a moderation analysis was conducted to determine whether attentional control moderated the association between SMU and psychological distress. Our findings revealed that SMU was positively associated with attentional control and anxiety, while TikTok use was positively associated with attentional control, and Facebook use with psychological distress. However, the observed associations were very small, suggesting that the links between SMU and both psychological distress and attentional control may be over-stated, particularly in studies that have utilised self-report SMU measures. No moderating effect of attentional control on the relationship between SMU and psychological distress was observed. These findings highlight the importance of utilising objective SMU and cognitive measures when examining the links between SMU, mental health, and cognitive processes (like attentional control), and to corroborate findings based on associations with self-report SMU indicators.
社交媒体使用（SMU）与负面心理健康结果有关，并与抑制性注意控制缺陷有关。然而，研究结果不一致，部分原因是过去研究中的方法学限制（例如，过度依赖自我报告的 SMU 和注意力控制措施）。因此，本研究的目的是使用 SMU 和抑制性注意控制的客观测量来检验 SMU、心理困扰（包括抑郁、焦虑和压力）与抑制性注意控制之间的关联。参与者（N=425）完成了 DASS-21 和反扫视任务，并通过手机访问了 SMU 数据，即每周使用 TikTok、Instagram、Snapchat、Facebook 和 Twitter/X 的分钟数。进行了双变量相关性分析，并进行了调节分析，以确定注意力控制是否调节了 SMU 和心理困扰之间的关联。我们的研究结果表明，SMU 与注意力控制和焦虑呈正相关，而 TikTok 使用与注意力控制呈正相关，而 Facebook 使用与心理困扰呈正相关。然而，观察到的关联非常小，这表明 SMU 与心理困扰和注意力控制之间的联系可能被夸大了，尤其是在使用自我报告的 SMU 措施的研究中。没有观察到注意力控制对 SMU 与心理困扰之间关系的调节作用。这些发现强调了在研究 SMU、心理健康和认知过程（如注意力控制）之间的联系时，使用客观的 SMU 和认知测量的重要性，并证实了基于与自我报告的 SMU 指标的关联的发现。
