Maartje Boer

SMU AND MENTAL HEALTH 157 6 SMU Problems and Mental Health In contrast, cross-sectional studies repeatedly showed that adolescents with SMU problems report mental health problems, such as depressive symptoms and other emotional problems, with moderate to large effect sizes (Bányai et al., 2017; Mérelle et al., 2017; Pontes, 2017). However, it is unclear whether SMU problems precede or follow from poor mental health. The presence of SMU problems may lead to lower mental health, because, as compared to adolescents who solely show high SMU intensity by using social media very frequently, adolescents with SMU problems show addiction-like SMU. That is, adolescents with SMU problems often have a diminished ability to regulate their SMU impulses, perceive SMU as more important than other activities, are preoccupied with social media, feel a constant urge to go online, and/ or experience discomfort such as stress or anxiety when SMU is not possible (Apaolaza et al., 2019; Griffiths, 2013; Griffiths et al., 2014). In other words, they have diminished control over their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and social media dominates their daily lives. This loss of agency, that is typical to SMUproblems, may harmadolescents’ mental health. Therefore, we expected that SMU problems would decrease mental health. Reversely, low mental health may also elicit SMU problems. The cognitive behavioral model posits that pre-existing psychopathology, such as depression, drive maladaptive cognitions about social media (Caplan, 2003; Davis, 2001; Griffiths, 2013). Adolescents with such cognitions may feel, for example, that their offline life is less meaningful than their online life, or that SMU alleviates their sorrows (Davis, 2001). To feel positive about themselves, or to forget their problems, theymay become dependent on SMU, and therefore develop addiction-like SMU problems (Griffiths, 2013). Thus, we also expected that poorer mental health would increase SMU problems. Mediating Processes The proposed bidirectional pathways between SMU problems and mental healthmaybedrivenbyseveralunderlyingbehaviors(Marinoetal.,2018b,2018a), yet these have received little empirical attention. The present study considers four mediating processes that could explain the effect of SMU problems on low mental health (Figure 6.1). First, adolescents with SMU problems typically