According to research, teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to report addiction on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media. The research findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Information, Communication and Society. In the first study of its kind, the findings show a link between economic inequality and problematic use of social network platforms and instant messaging applications. The situation is worse in schools where wealth and social differences exist between classmates. The authors say the results – based on more than 179,000 schoolchildren in 40 countries – suggest new strategies are needed on social media use that reduce the effects of deprivation.
Add authors, Action by policymakers can help limit delinquent or unusual behavior of young people. These negative patterns include being unable to reduce screen time or lying to friends and family about social media use. “These findings indicate potentially harmful effects of inequality at the individual, school and country level on adolescents’ problematic social media use,” says lead author Michela Lenzi, an associate professor in psychology at the University of Padua, Italy.
“Policy makers should develop actions to reduce inequalities to limit maladaptive patterns of social media use by adolescents. As the digital divide closes in many countries, economic inequalities remain and adolescent health and well-being Schools represent an ideal setting for promoting safe and social online behavior.”
Many young people use social media every day and the benefits of well-being have been well documented, as well as the risks. Problematic social media use (PSMU) has not been formally recognized as a behavioral addiction. However, it is considered as a health problem affecting young people. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between socio-economic inequalities and adolescent PSMUs measured at the individual, school and country levels.
In addition, the authors evaluated the role of peer and family support as moderators of these associations. The findings were based on 179,049 children aged 11, 13 and 15 from most 40 countries, including Europe and Canada. Evidence came from health behaviors in school-aged children, an international World Health Organization collaborative study conducted every four years.
The researchers asked the children to complete questionnaires to identify addiction-like behaviors associated with social media. Forms were filled out anonymously during classroom supervision by a teacher or trained interviewer. Any child who reported six or more items was identified as having PSMU. These items included feeling bad for not using social media, trying but failing to spend less time using it, and using social media to avoid negative emotions.
An index based on material wealth in the home or family activities was used to calculate the scale of deprivation. Items include the number of bathrooms, and the number of family vacations out of the country in the past year. The authors measured the degree of assistance provided from relatives and friends, such as country wealth, and family/fellow social support. They also took into account the proportion of the population using the Internet in each country.
The findings showed that teens who were relatively more disadvantaged than their classmates and attended financially unequal schools were more likely to report PSMU. The association with wealth division among students in the same class was stronger among youth with less peer support. But the association between the country’s income inequality and PSMU was found only among adolescents who were reporting low levels of family support.
There could be several reasons for the link between economic deprivation and PSMU. One theory suggested by the authors is that sharing images or videos particularly resonates with more disadvantaged teens because they associate them with power and status. They suggest that school-based prevention efforts may target ‘objective and perceived’ social class differences between classmates. Also important is increased peer support, which the authors found was a protective factor in the relationship between relative deprivation and PSMU.
(ANI)