SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY IN ADOLESCENCE: AN INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Social media use is embedded in adolescents’ daily lives and has been associated with several mental health indicators, although findings vary in magnitude, direction, and underlying mechanisms. This study aimed to present the associations reported between different patterns of social media use and adolescent mental health, considering risk, protective, mediating, and moderating factors. An integrative review was conducted following PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S guidance, with structured searches in PubMed, SciELO, and LILACS/BVS, complemented by an age-sensitivity search and a temporal PubMed update. After deduplication, 8,132 unique publications were screened; 907 proceeded to eligibility assessment, 417 were included, and 415 underwent critical appraisal using JBI instruments. Thematic synthesis was concentrated on depression, anxiety and psychological distress, followed by body image and self-esteem, sleep, loneliness and support, well-being, and sociocognitive mechanisms. Unfavorable associations were more consistent when social media use involved problematic patterns, social comparison, dependence on validation, fear of missing out, appearance concerns, negative peer experiences, and sleep disruption. Longitudinal and experimental studies also reported small, null, bidirectional, or reverse-causality-compatible effects. The relationship between social media and emotional vulnerability in adolescence is therefore heterogeneous and context-dependent and cannot be adequately explained by time spent online alone.