ArticleApplied psychology. Health and well-being2020
Social Media Use and Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Moderator Role of Disaster Stressor and Mediator Role of Negative Affect.
Article in Applied psychology. Health and well-being, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- When Infodemic Meets Epidemic: Systematic Literature Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Pooled it
- Public Mental Health Approaches to Online Radicalisation: An Empty Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- COVID-19 news consumption and distress in young people: A systematic review.Journal of affective disorders · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence of anxiety symptom and depressive symptom among college students during COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analysis.Journal of affective disorders · 2021Pooled it
- A co-produced online cultural experience compared to a typical museum website for mental health in people aged 16-24: A proof-of-principle randomised controlled trial.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2023Trial
- How COVID-19 News Affect Older Adults' Mental Health-Evidence of a Positivity Bias.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Post-earthquake traumatic stress and future time perspective: the indirect roles of problematic social media use and doomscrolling.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- An Analysis of Food Waste Production and Behavioural Patterns Among Generation Z in Five European Countries.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Lifestyle consequences for rescue workers in public health emergencies: a cross-sectional study from china.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Covering Up or Coming Out? The Role of Social Media Engagement and Sexual Self-Identification in Disclosure of Sexual Orientation Among Stigmatized Gay and Bisexual Men.International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health · 2026Article
- Unpacking the theoretical role of fear of missing out in the relationship between social networking intensity and well-being among Indian college students.Discover mental health · 2025Article
- Trait Emotion Regulation as a Predictor of Mental Health and Substance Use During a Period of Chronic Stress: A Longitudinal Analysis of US Veterans.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Observational
- Mental Health Issues and 24-Hour Movement Guidelines-Based Intervention Strategies for University Students With High-Risk Social Network Addiction: Cross-Sectional Study Using a Machine Learning Approach.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Analyzing the use of fact-checking tools in disaster-risk reduction in Europe through the lens of the heuristic-systematic model.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The impact of climatic factors on negative sentiments: An analysis of human expressions from X platform in Germany.iScience · 2025Article
- Person-Specific Analyses of Smartphone Use and Mental Health: Intensive Longitudinal Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Mental health and coping among graduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a gender-based analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Global, regional, and national trends in depressive disorder prevalence and DALYs among women of childbearing age from 1990 to 2021 and projections to 2040: a comprehensive analysis from 1990 to 2021.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- The impact of mental toughness on subjective well-being among Chinese college students in the post-COVID-19 era.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Distress disclosure on social media and depressive symptoms among college students: the roles of social comparison and gender.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInformed by the differential susceptibility to media effects model (DSMM), the current study aims to investigate associations of COVID-19-related social media use with mental health outcomes and to uncover potential mechanisms underlying the links.
methodsA sample of 512 (62.5% women; M
resultsAs expected, results from regression analyses indicated that a higher level of social media use was associated with worse mental health. More exposure to disaster news via social media was associated with greater depression for participants with high (but not low) levels of the disaster stressor. Moreover, path analysis showed negative affect mediated the relationship of social media use and mental health.
conclusionsThese findings suggest that the disaster stressor may be a risk factor that amplifies the deleterious impact of social media use on depression. In addition, excessive exposure to disaster on social media may trigger negative affect, which may in turn contribute to mental health problems. Future interventions to improve mental health should consider elements of both disaster stressor and negative affect.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.