For Teens’ Mental Health, Strong Friendships Matter More Than Social Media Use

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Teens who report strong, high-quality friendships tend to have better mental health—an influence that appears nearly three times stronger than the link between social media use and mental health challenges, according to a new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Today’s teens spend a lot of time online. This has raised concerns about how digital interactions affect teens’ well-being.

“Social media use does not occur in a vacuum—it’s one piece of a much larger picture,” said Courtney K. Blackwell, Ph.D., of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “Our study found that peer relationships seem to matter a lot more than social media when it comes to teen mental health outcomes.”

In the study, researchers found that a teen with strong, supportive friendships is likely to experience positive mental health, regardless of how much time they spend on social media. By contrast, teens who report poor-quality friendships and nearly the same level of social media use are more likely to report poor mental health. In comparison, the amount of time spent using social media had a much smaller influence on teen mental health outcomes.

The study included 963 teens aged 13 to 18 from across the United States. Teens completed surveys on social media habits, peer relationship quality, and mental health outcomes. The results provide insight into how social media use and mental health influence each other during the teenage years, extending beyond negative outcomes like anxiety and depression to also include positive mental health indicators.

“Instead of just focusing on limiting adolescents’ social media use, perhaps emphasizing ways to bolster the quality of their social relationships would help address the current youth mental health crisis in the U.S.,” said Dr. Blackwell.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-teens-mental-health-strong-friendships.html