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Published on: July 10, 2017
Social Media Experiences and Mood Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth: A Double-Edged Sword
Alma M Bitran1, Maya N Dalack1, Jessica L Hamilton1
1Department of Psychology, Rutgers University.
Objective:
Adolescents who identify as a sexual and/or gender minority (SGM) are at sharply elevated risk for negative mental health outcomes, in part due to experiences of online victimization. However, little research has examined potential protective effects of positive social media experiences on SGM youth mental health alongside the known risk posed by negative experiences.
Method:
The current study included 109 adolescents (Mage = 15.9; 51% sexual minority, 31% gender minority) who participated in an 8-week ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol assessing emotional experiences on social media and affect. Multilevel modeling examined within-person relationships between daily emotional responses to social media and affect, with SGM identity included as a moderator.
Results:
SGM adolescents showed increased sensitivity to both positive and negative social media experiences relative to their non-SGM peers. Specifically, negative social media experiences predicted within-person elevations in negative affect and depression, with stronger associations in SGM participants. Conversely, positive social media experiences predicted stronger within-person elevations in positive affect (and reductions in depression and negative affect) for SGM youth, relative to non-SGM youth. These associations persisted even when controlling for baseline depression severity and emotion dysregulation.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that social media experiences may serve as a double-edged sword for SGM youth, affording the potential for both heightened risk and protection for mental health. The protective effects of positive emotional experiences on social media indicate their potential importance in fostering resilience toward minority stressors faced by SGM youth.
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