Longitudinal associations between appearance-related social media consciousness and adolescents' depressive symptoms

Frequent social media use among adolescents is associated with depressive symptoms, though prior work has overwhelmingly used cross-sectional designs and focused on "screen time." Subjective social media experiences, such as the concern with one's physical appearance on social media, may be more relevant to adolescents' depressive symptoms than mere frequency of use. Appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC) is the preoccupation with one's physical attractiveness in social media photos and has been associated with depressive symptoms above and beyond frequency of social media use in prior cross-sectional work.

In this brief report, we assessed this association longitudinally over 1 year within a diverse sample of highschool adolescents in the Southeastern US (n = 163, M age = 16.19; 55.8% girls; 44.8% White, 23.9% Black, 26.4% Hispanic/Latinx; 49.7% received free or reduced-price lunch).

Baseline ASMC was associated with higher depressive symptoms 1 year later, even when controlling for time spent on social media. Although girls reported higher levels of ASMC, associations were similar for adolescent boys and girls. No evidence was found that heightened depressive symptoms at baseline were associated with higher ASMC 1 year later.

The findings highlight the importance of physical appearance concerns on social media-above and beyond the frequency of use-in the development of depressive symptoms among adolescents. Implications for future research to examine the role of subjective social media experiences in adolescents' depressive symptoms are discussed.