Association Between Social Media Use and Self-Reported Anxiety and/or Depression: Results from 113 Countries

Self-realized anxiety and depression are closely related, often co-occurring mental health conditions, which can present as a mood disorder reflected by sadness, hopelessness, nervousness, and worry. Different factors contribute to anxiety and depression. The aim of this associative study was to examine the factors related to self-reported anxiety and/or depression relative to their self-reported use of social media for informing future causal studies. Individual-level data from the Wellcome Global Monitor 2020 Mental Health cross-sectional survey were examined for potential factors associated with the outcome of interest, specifically, self-reported anxiousness or depression that prevented respondents from regularly doing daily activities for 2 weeks or longer. Independent variables were demographic variables: age, gender, economic level, educational attainment, employment status, belief factors, and usage frequency of social media. Multivariable logistic regression was used for assessing relationships between the frequency of social media use and anxiety/depression by obtaining adjusted odds ratios, which adjusted for confounding by age, gender, economic level, etc. The prevalence of self-reported anxiousness and/or depression was 20.5% among the 119,088 respondents across 113 countries. The prevalence was highest among those in the lowest quintiles of income (22.4%-25.4%), not trusting science (23.6%), in the youngest (15-29) age group (22.7%), lowest education level (22.6%), and females (22.1%). Social media users in the past 30 days also had higher self-reported anxiety/depression than non-users (21.2% vs. 17.6%). Furthermore, upon adjusting for potentially confounding variables, social media users had a 24% increased odds of reporting anxiety/depression (aOR = 1.24; 95% CI: [1.18, 1.29]) relative to non-users. There is an increasing prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide, and while certain populations are at increased risk, such as low-income, women, and young adults, the study results demonstrate social media use is associated with an increased prevalence of anxiety and/or depression, even upon adjusting for known risk factors.