Analysis of Irish study shows 'no link between social media use and later mental health woes'

US psychologist Christopher J. Ferguson said he found no discernible link between the use of social media among Irish youths and adult mental health issues.

Research has found no definitive link between social media use and mental health or social problems in later life, according to a US expert after an extensive analysis of Irish data.

US psychologist Christopher J. Ferguson analysed the national study Growing Up in Ireland which followed 8,500 children over the course of 10 years. He said he found no discernible link between the use of social media among Irish youths and adult mental health issues.

He published his findings in ‘Longitudinal Associations Between Social Media Use and Mental Health Outcomes in Sample of Irish Youth’.

Professor Ferguson told the Irish Examiner: “This is a big issue in the US and everywhere else right now, but most studies are not finding any connection between the early years and adulthood when it comes to mental health.

“A lot of this research is done with large data and the study in Ireland hadn’t been looked at yet, it was another additional piece of evidence from a different community.

Prof. Ferguson explained: “What I had was the opportunity to get this data of early social media and internet use and that is where this question has been for a long time. The question is do they contribute to mental health problems and suicide in teenagers. 

"It’s a huge issue in the US — especially young girls dying by suicide. But teen girls still do this far less than middle aged men, so there is some misinformation about it a bit, but there has been an increase from 10 years ago.” 

Professor Ferguson used date taken from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study of youth which began examining a large sample of youth in 2008. The study remains live and is continuing.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

There were 8,500 youths aged nine at time 1 of the phase, aged 13 at time 2 and aged between 17 and 18 at time 3. At wave 3, 6,309 participants were available but only participants with data from all three waves were included.

The study found there were slightly more female (51.4%) than male (48.6%) youths in the sample, while 94.8% of youths were citizens of Ireland and 87% were Roman Catholic (other Christian were 5.8%, and “other” was 1.2%, with the remainder non-reporting).

“The study shows that if there is a problem with social media and mental health later on, then we don’t know about it,” said Professor Ferguson.

“I cut my teeth on video games, that really wasn’t associated with anything in terms of youth outcomes.” 

But when you think about it, long ago people had the same issues when it came to radio addiction, too much tv and comic books — there is panic about new technology, but that doesn’t mean new things can’t be the one that will cause problems too.

“In the US they want to ban social media usage in certain stages, while in the UK it’s a discussion too. It can be impractical to ban youth access to social media.

“Everyone assumes its bad for people but the evidence at this point is that it is not. So I think a lot of Irish parents and families will be pleased.”