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Teens’ Social Media Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Time Series Examination of Posting and Emotion on Reddit

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Listed:
  • Saijun Zhang

    (Department of Social Work, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38677, USA)

  • Meirong Liu

    (School of Social Work, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA)

  • Yeefay Li

    (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA 22312, USA)

  • Jae Eun Chung

    (Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA)

Abstract

Research has rarely examined how the COVID-19 pandemic may affect teens’ social media engagement and psychological wellbeing, and even less research has compared the difference between teens with and without mental health concerns. We collected and analyzed weekly data from January to December 2020 from teens in four Reddit communities (subreddits), including teens in r/Teenagers and teens who participated in three mental health subreddits (r/Depression, r/Anxiety, and r/SuicideWatch). The results showed that teens’ weekly subreddit participation, posting/commenting frequency, and emotion expression were related to significant pandemic events. Teen Redditors on r/Teenagers had a higher posting/commenting frequency but lower negative emotion than teen Redditors on the three mental health subreddits. When comparing posts/comments on r/Teenagers, teens who ever visited one of the three mental health subreddits posted/commented twice as frequently as teens who did not, but their emotion expression was similar. The results from the Interrupted Time Series Analysis (ITSA) indicated that both teens with and without mental health concerns reversed the trend in posting frequency and negative emotion from declining to increasing right after the pandemic outbreak, and teens with mental health concerns had a more rapidly increasing trend in posting/commenting. The findings suggest that teens’ social media engagement and emotion expression reflect the pandemic evolution. Teens with mental health concerns are more likely to reveal their emotions on specialized mental health subreddits rather than on the general r/Teenagers subreddit. In addition, the findings indicated that teens with mental health concerns had a strong social interaction desire that various barriers in the real world may inhibit. The findings call for more attention to understand the pandemic’s influence on teens by monitoring and analyzing social media data and offering adequate support to teens regarding their mental health wellbeing.

Suggested Citation

  • Saijun Zhang & Meirong Liu & Yeefay Li & Jae Eun Chung, 2021. "Teens’ Social Media Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Time Series Examination of Posting and Emotion on Reddit," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-17, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:10079-:d:642963
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Finiki Nearchou & Clodagh Flinn & Rachel Niland & Sheena Siva Subramaniam & Eilis Hennessy, 2020. "Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health Outcomes in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-19, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Saijun Zhang & Ying Hao & Yali Feng & Na Youn Lee, 2022. "COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Children with Developmental Disabilities: Service Disruption, Transition to Telehealth, and Child Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-12, March.
    2. Ying Hao & Saijun Zhang & Austin Conner & Na Youn Lee, 2021. "The Evolution of Telepractice Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives of Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologists," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Marija Draženović & Tea Vukušić Rukavina & Lovela Machala Poplašen, 2023. "Impact of Social Media Use on Mental Health within Adolescent and Student Populations during COVID-19 Pandemic: Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Samantha Garcia & Suellen Hopfer & Elouise Botes & Samuel Greiff, 2022. "Associations between Coronavirus Crisis Perception, Perceived Economic Risk of Coronavirus, General Self-Efficacy, and Coronavirus Anxiety at the Start of the Pandemic: Differences by Gender and Race," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, March.

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