ArticleScientific reports2023
Gene-environment correlations and genetic confounding underlying the association between media use and mental health.
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Positive association between Internet use and mental health among adults aged ≥50 years in 23 countries.Nature human behaviour · 2025Pooled it
- Recreational screen use and internalizing problems from preadolescence to young adulthood in a longitudinal twin cohort with co-twin comparison.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Exploring genetic confounding of the associations between screen time and depressive symptoms in adolescence and early adulthood.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Relations Between Social Media Use and Cyberbullying Victimization Across Adolescence: Within-Person Effects in a Birth Cohort.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- Genome-wide analysis of screen behaviors among adolescents identifies novel loci and overlap with educational attainment and mental disorders.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Recreational Screen Use and Internalizing Problems from Preadolescence to Young Adulthood: A population-based Cohort and Co-Twin Control Study.Research square · 2025Article
- The Association Between Frequency of Social Media Use, Wellbeing, and Depressive Symptoms: Disentangling Genetic and Environmental Factors.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- A Genetically Informed Study of Digital screen time, Video game play, and Impulsivity in Established Adulthood.Computers in human behavior · 2024Article
- mi-Mic: a novel multi-layer statistical test for microbiota-disease associations.Genome biology · 2024Article
- Shared Genetic Risk in the Association of Screen Time With Psychiatric Problems in Children.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Neurobiological risk factors for problematic social media use as a specific form of Internet addiction: A narrative review.World journal of psychiatry · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The increase in online media use and mental health problems have prompted investigations into their association, although most literature is focussed on deleterious effects. We assessed the aetiology of media use and mental health associations (M age = 22.14, SD = 0.85) using twin (n = 4000 pairs) and polygenic score methods (n = 6000 unrelated individuals) in the Twins Early Development Study. Beyond the traditionally explored negative uses of online media (online victimisation and problematic internet use), we investigate general media uses such as posting online and watching videos and distinguish both positive (pro-social behaviour) and negative (anxiety, depression, peer and behaviour problems) mental health measures. Negative media use correlated with poor mental health (r = 0.11-0.32), but general media use correlated with prosocial behaviour (r = 0.20) and fewer behavioural problems (r = - 0.24). Twin analyses showed that both general and negative media use were moderately heritable (ranging from 20 to 49%) and their associations with mental health were primarily due to genetic influences (44-88%). Genetic sensitivity analysis combining polygenic scores with heritability estimates also suggest genetic confounding. Results indicate research on the mental health impact of media use should adopt genetically informed designs to strengthen causal inference.
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