Not All Teens Scroll the Same: Patterns and Variation in Adolescent Social Media Behavior

Background The impact of social media use on adolescent mental health is a topic of global interest, however specific patterns of social media use among different groups of adolescents are rarely examined. This study assessed patterns of social media behaviors in Australian adolescents and examined whether these behaviors differed by sociodemographic and psychosocial factors. Methods The sample comprised 3860 adolescents ( M _age =16.1, 51.4% female, 44.7% male, 3.9% gender diverse). Participants reported on common ways of using social media (e.g. communicating with others known or not known in real life, scrolling/viewing content, and posting/sharing content) and problematic social media behaviors (e.g. social comparison, social validation, frequent posting, posting negative personal content). Cross-sectional linear mixed models examined social media behaviors by gender, sexuality, neurodiversity, linguistic diversity, regionality of school, socioeconomic status, negative family interactions, loneliness, school connectedness, and psychological distress. Results Most adolescents reported spending two or more hours a day on social media. Differential associations with social media behaviors were observed across most factors. Largest differences were observed among female and gender diverse individuals (v. males), and those reporting greater negative family interactions, distress, and loneliness, who reported more frequent posting and viewing of content, and greater use of social media for social validation and social comparison. Conclusions Our findings show that sociodemographic and psychosocial factors are associated with differential patterns of social media behaviors in adolescents. Further research should assess whether differences in patterns of social media behaviors contribute to variation in the impact of social media on adolescent mental health.