The social media scale for depression in adolescence.

Eve Twivy, Daniel Freeman, Ciorsdan Anderson, Bao Sheng Loe, Felicity Waite

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in International journal of adolescence and youth, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

1citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

Bergen social media engagement and experiences scale (Be-SMEE): A short questionnaire covering important experiences and perceptions of social media use among adolescents. Development and association with symptoms of depression and anxiety.F1000Research · 2025
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Eve TwivyDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-6173-4153

Daniel FreemanDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Ciorsdan AndersonOxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Bao Sheng LoeThe Psychometrics Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Felicity WaiteDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-2749-1386

Funding

Wellcome Trust

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Social media forms a significant part of adolescents' lives, yet its impact on depression is unclear. We aimed to develop a questionnaire assessing different ways of using social media, and use it to understand potential associations with depression in adolescence. One thousand one hundred and forty adolescents completed an item pool. Factor analyses were conducted to derive the Social Media Scale (SMS). Ant Colony Optimization was used to develop a short-form SMS containing the factors which uniquely predicted depression as determined by structural equation modelling. The 45-item, nine-factor, SMS, had an acceptable model fit. Five factors (Social comparison; Passing time; Hostility from others; Hostility towards others; and Seeking support) uniquely contributed to depression and together explained 44% of its variance. These factors formed a 15-item short-form SMS, which had an excellent model fit. Social comparison and Passing time on social media had the strongest associations with depression and may be targets for future psychological interventions.

Indexed as

adolescencedepressionmeasure developmentSocial mediawellbeing

Identifiers

PMID40697629

DOI10.1080/02673843.2025.2450425

PMCPMC7617924

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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.