Abstract
A growing literature attests to the associations between social media use (SMU) and psychosocial outcomes. However, recent meta-analyses and systematic reviews indicate relatively small and inconsistent effect sizes across studies. Such reviews also indicate that measurement approaches have focused almost exclusively on self-report methodologies to assess SMU, raising concerns about the role of common method variance. The current study was designed to examine the concurrent validity of self-reported SMU, the degree to which objective SMU estimates fall within the categorical ranges indicated by the self-report data, and the degree to which objectively reported SMU explains psychosocial functioning beyond that accounted for by self-reported SMU in a sample of adolescents (n = 317) and young adults (n = 325). Results indicate small but significant associations between self-reported SMU and objective minutes of SMU (r = .25), number of pick-ups (r = .13), and number of notifications (r = .12). For approximately one-third (34.6%) of the total sample, objectively reported SMU fell within the range indicated by self-report categorical data. Slightly more participants (42.6%) overestimated their SMU relative to objective data. Finally, for adolescents only, objective SMU variables (pick-ups and notifications) was associated with self-reported depressive symptoms and social role functioning after accounting for self-reported SMU estimates. Overall, results support the use of self-reported SMU estimates, particularly in research designs that rely on correlational methods to examine associations between SMU and psychosocial outcomes. However, results also suggest that both adolescents and young adults significantly under- and over-report SMU relative to objective data.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Annie E. Casey Foundation (2022). KIDS COUNT Data Center. https://datacenter.kidscount.org
Barry, C. T., Sidoti, C. L., Briggs, S. M., Reiter, S. R., & Lindsey, R. A. (2017). Adolescent social media use and mental health from adolescent and parent perspectives. Journal of Adolescence, 61, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.08.005
Baumgartner, S. E., Sumter, S. R., Petkevič, V., & Wiradhany, W. (2022). A novel iOS data donation approach: Automatic processing, compliance, and reactivity in a longitudinal study. Social Science Computer Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393211071068
Bekalu, M. A., McCloud, R. F., & Viswanath, K. (2019). Association of social media use with social well-being, positive mental health, and self-rated health: Disentangling routine use from emotional connection to use. Health Education & Behavior, 46(2, suppl), 69S–80S. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198119863768
Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014). Online communication, social media and adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children and Youth Services Review, 41, 27–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.001
Bevans, M., Ross, A., & Cella, D. (2014). Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS): Efficient, standardized tools to measure self-reported health and quality of life. Nursing Outlook, 62(5), 339–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2014.05.009
Boyle, S.C., LaBrie, J., Trager, B.M., & Baez, S. (2022). Discrepancies between objectively assessed and self-reported daily social media time in the age of platform swinging. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/zx7nh
Brod, C. (1984). Technostress: The human cost of the computer revolution. Addison-Wesley.
Burke, M., & Kraut, R. E. (2016). The relationship between Facebook use and well-being depends on communication type and tie strength. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(4), 265–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12162
Burnell, K., George, M., Kurup, A. R., Underwood, M. K., & Ackerman, R. (2021). Associations between self-reports and device-reports of social networking site use: An application of the Truth and Bias Model. Communication Methods and Measures, 15(2), 156–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2021.1918654
Cella, D., Riley, W., Stone, A., Rothrock, N., Reeve, B., Yount, S., …, & Cook, K. (2010). Initial adult health item banks and first wave testing of the patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS™) network: 2005–2008. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 63(11), 1179–1194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.04.011
Choi, D. H., & Noh, G. Y. (2020). The influence of social media use on attitude toward suicide through psychological well-being, social isolation, and social support. Information, Communication & Society, 23(10), 1427–1443. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1574860
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 386–396. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136404
Ellis, D. A. (2019). Are smartphones really that bad? Improving the psychological measurement of technology-related behaviors. Computers in Human Behavior, 97, 60–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CHB.2019.03.006
Ellis, D. A., Davidson, B. I., Shaw, H., & Geyer, K. (2019). Do smartphone usage scales predict behavior? International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 130, 86–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJHCS.2019.05.004
Ernala, S. K., Burke, M., Leavitt, A., & Ellison, N. B. (2020, April). How well do people report time spent on Facebook? An evaluation of established survey questions with recommendations. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–14). Honolulu, HI USA.
Frith, E. (2017). Social media and children’s mental health: A review of the evidence. Education Policy Institute. https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Social-Media_Mental-Health_EPI-Report.pdf. Accessed April 29, 2021.
Gerson, J., Plagnol, A. C., & Corr, P. J. (2017). Passive and active facebook use measure (PAUM): Validation and relationship to the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. Personality and Individual Differences, 117, 81–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.034
Glaser, R., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Marucha, P. T., MacCallum, R. C., Laskowski, B. F., & Malarkey, W. B. (1999). Stress-related changes in proinflammatory cytokine production in wounds. Archives of General Psychiatry, 56(5), 450–456. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.56.5.450
Griffioen, N., van Rooij, M., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2020). Toward improved methods in social media research. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000005
Hall, J. A., Xing, C., Ross, E. M., & Johnson, R. M. (2021). Experimentally manipulating social media abstinence: Results of a four-week diary study. Media Psychology, 24(2), 259–275. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2019.1688171
Hall, J. A. (2017). The experience of mobile entrapment in daily life. Journal of Media Psychology, 29 (Special Issue), 148–158. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000228
Hancock, J. T., Liu, X., French, M., Luo, M., & Mieczkowski, H. (2019, May). Social media use and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. 69th Annual International Communication Association Conference, Washington, D.C.
Hanna, E., Ward, L. M., Seabrook, R. C., Jerald, M., Reed, L., Giaccardi, S., & Lippman, J. R. (2017). Contributions of social comparison and self-objectification in mediating associations between Facebook use and emergent adults’ psychological well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(3), 172–179. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0247
Huang, C. (2017). Time spent on social network sites and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 20(6), 346–354. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0758
Jenkins-Guarnieri, M. A., Wright, S. L., & Johnson, B. (2013). Development and validation of a social media use integration scale. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 2(1), 38–50. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030277
Jiang, J. (2018.) How Teens and parents navigate screen time and device distractions. Pew Research Center. Accessed Aug 3 2021 from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/08/22/how-teens-and-parents-navigate-screen-time-and-device-distractions
Johannes, N., Nguyen, T., Weinstein, N., & Przybylski, A.K. (2021). Objective, subjective, and accurate reporting of social media use: No evidence that daily social media use correlates with personality traits, motivational states, or well-being. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000035
Johnson, R. E., Rosen, C. C., & Djurdjevic, E. (2011). Assessing the impact of common method variance on higher order multidimensional constructs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(4), 744. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021504
Junco, R. (2013). Comparing actual and self-reported measures of Facebook use. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 626–631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.11.007
Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2020). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851
McDonald, M.P. (2005). Validity, data sources. In K. Kempf-Leonard (Ed.), Encyclopedia of social measurement (Vol. 3), 939–948. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Meier, A., & Reinecke, L. (2020). Computer mediated communication, social media, and mental health: A conceptual and empirical meta-review. Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650220958224
Mitev, K., Weinstein, N., Karabeliova, S., Nguyen, T., Law, W., & Przybylski, A. (2021). Social media use only helps, and does not harm, daily interactions and well-being. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000033
Nesi, J., & Prinstein, M. J. (2015). Using social media for social comparison and feedback-seeking: Gender and popularity moderate associations with depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43, 1427–1438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0020-0
Nesi, J., Choukas-Bradley, S., & Prinstein, M. J. (2018). Transformation of adolescent peer relations in the social media context: Part 1—A theoretical framework and application to dyadic peer relationships. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 21(3), 267–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-018-0261-x
Odgers, C., & Schueller, S., & Ito, M. (2020). Screen time, social media use, and adolescent development. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, Vol 2, pp. 485–502 (Volume publication date December 2020) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-084815
Ohannessian, C. M. (2009). Media use and adolescent psychological adjustment: An examination of gender differences. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 18, 582–593. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-009-9261-2
Ohannessian, C. M., & Vannucci, A. (2021). Social media use and externalizing behaviors during early adolescence. Youth & Society, 53(6), 871–893. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X20901737
Orben, A. (2020). Teenagers, screens and social media: A narrative review of reviews and key studies. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 55(4), 407–414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-019-01825-4
Primack, B. A., Shensa, A., Sidani, J. E., Whaite, E. O., Lin, L. Y., Rosen, D., Colditz, J. B., Radovic, A., & Miller, E. (2017). Social media use and perceived social isolation among young adults in the U.S. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 53(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2017.01.010
Scharkow, M. (2016). The accuracy of self-reported internet use—A validation study using client log data. Communication Methods and Measures, 10(1), 13–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2015.1118446
Sewall, C. J. R., Bear, T. M., Merranko, J., & Rosen, D. (2020). How psychosocial wellbeing and usage amount predict inaccuracies in retrospective estimates of digital technology use. Mobile Media & Communication, 8(3), 379–399. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157920902830
Shensa, A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., Sidani, J. E., Bowman, N. D., Marshal, M. P., & Primack, B. A. (2017). Problematic social media use and depressive symptoms among U.S. young adults: A nationally-representative study. Social Science & Medicine, 182, 150–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.03.061
Smith, D., Leonis, T., & Anandavalli, S. (2021). Belonging and loneliness in cyberspace: Impacts of social media on adolescents’ well-being. Australian Journal of Psychology, 73(1), 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049530.2021.1898914
Steele, R. G., Hall, J. A., & Christofferson, J. L. (2020). Conceptualizing digital stress in adolescents and young adults: Toward the development of an empirically based model. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 23, 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-019-00300-5
Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2018). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study. Preventive Medicine Reports, 12, 271–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.10.003
Twenge, J. M., Joiner, T. E., Rogers, M. L., & Martin, G. N. (2018). Increases in depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates among U.S. adolescents after 2010 and links to increased new media screen time. Clinical Psychological Science, 6(1), 3–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376
U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). National Population by Characteristics: 2020–2021. Annual estimates of the resident population by single year of age and sex for the United States: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021. www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-national-detail.html
Valkenburg, P. M., Meier, A., & Beyens, I. (2022). The effects of social media use on adolescents’ mental health: An umbrella review. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 58–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.017
Van den Eijnden, R. J., Lemmens, J. S., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2016). The social media disorder scale. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, 478–487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.038
Verbeij, T., Pouwels, J. L., Beyens, I., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2021). The accuracy and validity of self-reported social media use measures among adolescents. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100090
Verbeij, T., Pouwels, J.L., Beyens, I., Valkenburg, P. M. (2022). Experience sampling self-reports of social media use have comparable predictive validity to digital trace measures. Scientific Reports, 12, 7611. Retrieved December 23, 2022, from https://psyarxiv.com/c9bj7/
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Teodora Milhailova, Mughees Choudry, Megan Fitzgerald, Brooke Fleming, Kylie Kimrie, Cassandra Quinby, Belicia Wilcoxen, and Savaughn Williams for their assistance with participant recruitment and/or data collection over the course of this study.
Funding
This study was funded, in part, by a General Research Fund grant (# 2160680) from the University of Kansas awarded to the first author.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
All procedures described in this study were approved by the Human Research Protection Program (Institutional Review Board) of the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (Approval numbers: 00144863, 00144233).
Informed Consent
Written informed consent, including consent to publish the results of this study, was obtained from all individual participants (or their legal guardians) prior to data collection. Minors who participated in the study provided assent prior to data collection.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Steele, R.G., Khetawat, D., Christofferson, J.L. et al. Concurrent Validity of Self-Reported Social Media Use in Adolescents and Young Adults: Associations with Objective Data and Psychosocial Functioning. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 45, 97–108 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-022-10013-9
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-022-10013-9