Search Results (10)

Background/Objectives: University students are particularly susceptible to mental health issues, exhibiting a higher prevalence of insomnia and depressive symptoms compared to the general population. These mental problems adversely affect their academic performance and overall well-being. Understanding this issue is essential for developing effective prevention and intervention strategies for the academic community. The present study investigates the complex role of problematic TikTok use and insomnia in relation to depression among university students. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted between November 2024 and January 2025, involving a sample of 173 university students in Poland. The participants had a mean age of 23 years (M = 23.09, SD = 3.92), with 73.4% being women, and 49% were enrolled in medical and healthcare faculties. The questionnaire comprised a demographic survey, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for assessing symptoms of depression, the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS-8) for measuring symptoms of insomnia, and the modified Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) for evaluating problematic TikTok use (PTTU). The hypotheses were verified using Student’s t-test, Pearson’s correlation, and general linear model (GLM) mediation analysis. Results: The study found no significant gender (women vs. men) and faculty (medical vs. non-medical) differences in the level of symptoms of depression, insomnia, or problematic TikTok use. Insomnia, depression, and PTTU were positively inter-related. Insomnia completely mediates the relationship between PTTU and depression in university students. However, these results must be treated with caution due to the uneven gender distribution and cross-sectional nature of these studies, which limits causal relationships. Conclusions: Excessive engagement with TikTok has been associated with an increase in insomnia symptoms, which subsequently exacerbates depression symptoms among university students. Prevention and intervention strategies should prioritize reducing TikTok usage while simultaneously enhancing sleep hygiene and mental health within the academic population, irrespective of gender and university faculty affiliation. Full article

Introduction: TikTok use is increasing, especially among children and adolescents. However, the negative effects of TikTok use have not been sufficiently investigated. Aim: To examine the association between TikTok use and anxiety, depression, and sleepiness in adolescents. Methods: We conducted a web-based cross-sectional study in Greece. We employed a convenience sample of 219 adolescents in Greece. All participants had a TikTok account. We used the TikTok Addiction Scale (TTAS) to measure TikTok use and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) to measure anxiety and depression. We constructed multivariable regression models, and we performed a stratified analysis according to gender. Results: The mean age was 18.5 years (standard deviation: 0.5, range: 18 to 19). In our sample, 81.3% were girls and 18.7% were boys. Mean daily TikTok usage and TTAS scores were statistically higher for girls than for boys. Our multivariable linear regression analysis was adjusted for age and showed that problematic TikTok use was associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms in both genders. In particular, we found a positive association between mood modification and anxiety score (beta = 0.404, p-value = 0.006). Moreover, we found a positive association between conflict and depression score (beta = 0.472, p-value < 0.001). Additionally, we found that the impact of TikTok on anxiety and depression was greater among boys than girls. We also found that problematic TikTok use was associated with increased sleepiness in both genders (mood modification: beta = 0.655, p-value < 0.001; conflict: beta = 0.674, p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: Our findings showed a positive association between TikTok use and anxiety, depression, and sleepiness. Early identification of problematic TikTok users is essential to promote their mental health and well-being. Healthcare professionals should be alert to recognize symptoms of problematic TikTok use. Full article

Background: TikTok use is constantly increasing, especially among young adults. Although there is a negative association between problematic TikTok use and users’ health, no study until recently has investigated the association between TikTok use and poor sleep. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate TikTok use among young adults and its association with poor sleep. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Greece. The study sample included 361 adults aged 18–35. A convenience sample through social media was employed. Levels of TikTok use among participants were measured with the TikTok Addiction Scale (TTAS). Results: The mean time of TikTok use was 2.4 h (SD; 1.6), while the mean TTAS score was 2.3 (SD; 0.7). The 11.6% of the participants are problematic TikTok users. A negative correlation between the duration of night sleep and levels of TikTok addiction was found. Also, a positive correlation between sleepiness in work or class and levels of TikTok addiction was found. Furthermore, younger ages were correlated to increased levels of TikTok addiction and time on TikTok. The levels of TikTok addiction were higher among females. Conclusions: This study suggested that higher levels of TikTok addiction and TikTok use were correlated with reduced duration of night sleep and increased sleepiness in work/class. Full article

Background: Although the prevalence of depression has increased significantly in recent years, especially in the young adult population, little is known about its causes and risk factors. The study aims to examine the mediating role of TikTok use in the relationships between procrastination and depression in young adults. Methods: A sample of 448 adults, ranging in age from 18 to 35 years (M = 24.45, SD = 3.76), including 214 men (48%), participated in the study. The cross-sectional survey consists of a modified Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) to assess problematic TikTok use (PTTU), the Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS) for procrastination measurement, and the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for screening depression symptoms. Results: The independent samples t-test indicates that emerging adults (ages ranging between 18 and 25 years) have more severe depression symptoms than young adults (26–35 years old). Gender differences were not found for procrastination, PTTU, and depression symptoms. Positive correlations were found between procrastination, PTTU, and depression symptoms. PTTU plays a mediating role in the associations between procrastination and depression. Conclusions: Both procrastination and PTTU treatment should be prioritized in the prevention and intervention programs for improving mental health among young adults. Some effective therapeutic methods are recommended. Full article

The aims of the present study are: (1) to determine classes of adolescents with homogeneous patterns of smartphone or social media use; and (2) to examine the level of distress across the empirically derived profiles. Three hundred and forty adolescents (M_age = 15.61, SD = 1.19; 38.2% females) participated in a cross-sectional survey. Participants provided objective trace data on time spent on smartphones and applications, as well as self-reported social media addiction, social media use intensity, online social comparison, emotion dysregulation, and psychological distress. Latent class analysis (LCA) with total smartphone use categorized participants into three classes. Participants in Class 3 (19%) showed a more impaired functioning profile, with a tendency towards social media addiction and greater levels of distress. LCAs with the amount of time devoted to specific applications are more heterogeneous, and results showed that heavy use of social media apps was not consistently connected to the most impaired psychosocial profiles. Although the amount of mobile screen time can be a characteristic of problematic users, the link between social media usage and an adolescent’s psychological characteristics is mixed. More research is needed to explore the interplay between mobile screen time and social media usage among adolescents. Full article

TikTok use and overuse have grown rapidly in recent years among adolescents. However, risk factors for problematic TikTok use are still largely unknown. In addition, drawing on the flow theory and parental mediation theory, this study aims to examine how adolescents’ perceptions of enjoyment, concentration, and time distortion affect their problematic TikTok use behavior. Further, we examined the moderating effect of active parental mediation. An online survey in China received responses from a sample of 633 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 (males: 51.2%; M_age = 15.00; DS = 0.975). Our findings showed that enjoyment was positively associated with concentration and, in turn, with time distortion. We also found significant positive effects of concentration and time distortion on problematic TikTok use. The effect of enjoyment, however, was non-significant, indicating that hedonic mood was not associated with problematic TikTok use. Out of the three moderated relationships examined in this study, only active parental control was found to be a significant moderator for the relationship between concentration and problematic TikTok use. The significant negative moderation result showed that as active parental mediation grows, the impact of adolescents’ concentration on problematic TikTok use is reduced. Future research directions and implications are discussed. Full article

Research suggests that exposure to social networking sites portraying a thin and often sexualized beauty ideal reduces young women’s body satisfaction, while exposure to body-positive content improves it. However, it is unclear whether sexualization could impair the beneficial effects of body-positivity messages. Young Italian women were exposed to one of three experimental conditions showing sexualized beauty ideals, sexualized body positivity, or non-sexualized body positivity that appeared either on Instagram (Study 1, N = 356) or TikTok (Study 2, N = 316). Across the two studies, results showed that, regardless of sexualization, exposure to body positivity increased body satisfaction and positive mood compared with pre-exposure measures, while exposure to sexualized beauty ideals reduced it. Participants in the sexualized beauty ideal condition also engaged in upward appearance social comparison whereas body positivity elicited downward comparison. Problematic social networking sites’ use moderated the effects of condition on body satisfaction, appearance social comparison, and positive mood, while downward comparison mediated the relation between condition and body satisfaction and positive mood. Our results highlight both beneficial and critical aspects of body positivity that should be taken into consideration when designing body image interventions and policymaking. Full article

In recent years, social media has become part of our lives, even among children. From the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic period, media device and Internet access rapidly increased. Adolescents connected Internet alone, consulting social media, mostly Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. During “lockdown”, the Internet usage allowed communication with peers and the continuity activities such as school teaching. However, we have to keep in mind that media usage may be related to some adverse consequences especially in the most vulnerable people, such as the young. Aim of the review is to focus on risks correlated to social media use by children and adolescents, identifying spies of rising problems and engaging in preventive recommendations. The scoping review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines, searching on PubMed the terms “social media” or “social network”, “health”, and “pediatrics”. Excluding articles not pertinent, we found 68 reports. Out of them, 19 were dealing with depression, 15 with diet, and 15 with psychological problems, which appeared to be the most reported risk of social media use. Other identified associated problems were sleep, addiction, anxiety, sex related issues, behavioral problems, body image, physical activity, online grooming, sight, headache, and dental caries. Public and medical awareness must rise over this topic and new prevention measures must be found, starting with health practitioners, caregivers, and websites/application developers. Pediatricians should be aware of the risks associated to a problematic social media use for the young’s health and identify sentinel signs in children as well as prevent negative outcomes in accordance with the family. Full article

TikTok, the most popular social media, brings various benefits to nowadays living. However, the problematic use of TikTok has also elicited a range of health problems, such as sleep problems. Physical activity (PA) appears to play a protective role in the problematic use of TikTok and its health consequences, but the pathways between PA and sleep health are understudied. Therefore, we aimed to propose a framework to check whether PA can benefit the sleep health of TikTok users by reducing bedtime delays for TikTok. Stress and mental health issues were also considered as they are potential mediators between PA and sleep health and may also influence the problematic use of smartphones. A cross-sectional investigation that involved 660 Chinese TikTok users was conducted in April 2021. The volume of PA, perceived stress (PSS-10), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), bedtime delay for TikTok use, and sleep quality (PSQI) were investigated through an online questionnaire survey. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine pathways from PA to sleep quality through stress, mental health issues (depression and anxiety), and bedtime delay for TikTok. We found that PA exerted a significant effect on sleep quality through indirect pathways (β = −0.056, p = 0.001). Stress was a critical mediator of all indirect pathways, and the pathway mediated by stress and mental health issues made a major contribution to the total effect (β = −0.048, p = 0.002). The identified pathways mediated by bedtime delay for TikTok were relatively weak but significant. PA showed a distinct effect on bedtime delay for TikTok through stress and mental health issues (β = −0.043, p = 0.001). In conclusion, our framework highlights some pathways to understanding the benefits of PA on TikTok users’ sleep quality. Future research is warranted to explore extra indirect pathways and re-examine the causal relationships between variables. Full article

The pervasiveness of smartphones and the popularity of short-form video applications (SVAs), such as TikTok, among middle-aged Chinese adults have raised concerns about problematic SVAs use. Although a plethora of research has examined problematic smartphone use among teenagers and young adults, scarce attention has been paid to the middle-aged group. This study integrates the psychopathological approach and the compensatory use approach to explicate problematic SVAs use among middle-aged Chinese adults. We aim to examine the relationship between stress and problematic SVAs use via the mediating roles of duration of use and flow experience. A total of 194 middle-aged adults from across the nation participated in an online survey. The results showed that stress was positively associated with problematic SVAs use. We also found that duration of use positively mediated the relationship between stress and problematic SVAs use. Furthermore, a serial mediation effect of duration of use and flow experience was found. The findings suggest that the aforementioned two approaches are complementary to each other in explicating problematic SVAs use, but the compensatory use approach explains more than the psychopathological approach does. Flow experience extends the original compensatory use approach and demonstrates the importance of incorporating techno-psychological predictors in understanding problematic SVAs use. Full article