Growing depression among teen girls more complex than digital media rise

A new study from the Black Dog Institute raises the possibility that digital media use is not behind the sharp rise in rates of depression among adolescent girls.

Sydney student Lea looks for online sites with positive outlooks and different perspectives.

Rather than greater screen time being the cause of their depression, struggling Australian teenage girls might be turning to digital media, with all its flaws, as a way to cope.

A new study from the Black Dog Institute looks at the fast-­rising rates of depression among Australian adolescents aged 12-18, particularly girls, and the impact of greater digital media use, concluding the relationship is not as simple as many think.

The report, Turning the Tide on Depression, drew from information provided by more than 6300 Australian teens, finding an alarmingly high proportion are dealing with depression, with girls particularly affected.

“Across the sample, 15.1 per cent of adolescents reported clinically significant symptoms of ­depression, with the proportions being significantly higher in girls (19.1 per cent) compared to boys (7.6 per cent),” it said.

The study examined the ­potential role of digital media in depression, concluding that greater amounts of time spent on screen was linked with depression in teens, particularly girls.

But it then broke down the possible drivers of depression due to greater use of digital media – cyber bullying, negative self-evaluation through comparisons to celebrities, loss of social support networks and lack of sleep, finding none explained why the link was stronger in girls than in boys.

“Rather than being a consequence of higher levels of screen time, depression may actually lead adolescents to engage in higher levels of screen use,” the report finds.

“Digital technologies can have a powerful influence over our emotional state (both good and bad), and an emerging body of evidence suggests that adolescents may use digital technology as a means of regulating their emotions.

“For adolescents who use digital media to play games or to ­actively engage with friends online, turning to digital technology as a means of regulating negative emotions may be an effective strategy.

“However, for adolescents who use digital technology in a more passive way (e.g. scrolling through images on Instagram), this strategy may be less effective in helping them regulate their emotions, and may in some cases make them feel worse, putting them at increased risk for depression,” it says.

 

Black Dog Institute research fellow and psychologist Alexis Whitton, the report’s lead author, said there were clear lessons for parents and carers of adolescents.

“Assumptions that screen time in general is bad are likely to be misplaced and unhelpful for adolescents,” Dr Whitton said.

“And knowing one in five adolescent girls are struggling to manage their mental health problems, we need to be delivering greater access to support where they can get it, both in online and face-to-face situations,” she said.

Sydney high school student Lea, 17, said she used social media at the height of her depression and mental health issues, which were exacerbated by the pandemic.

“To escape I’d scroll through Instagram for hours on end. I don’t think my screen time has ever been as high,” she said.

“Social media can have both a positive and a negative impact on your mental health. I was using it to dissociate myself from the real world and it wasn’t productive so I actually deleted everything for about six months to refresh.”

Lea says she’s back online, but cuts out those who don’t offer a positive energy and is finding ­accounts with different perspectives rather than those who live in an “idealised” world.

US studies show prevalence of depression among adolescents rising from about 8 per cent of 12-17-year-olds having had a depressive episode in the previous year in 2008 to almost 17 per cent in 2020.