The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults
During the COVID-19 pandemic, young people have been exposed to distressing content about COVID-19 without knowing whether they can trust such content. This indicates a need to examine the effects of social media use on mental health and well-being. Existing research provides an inconsistent impress...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10035839/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1797860174578319360 |
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| author | Adam J. Hoffman Luke McGuire Channing J. Mathews Angelina Joy Fidelia Law Marc Drews Adam Rutland Adam Hartstone-Rose Mark Winterbottom Kelly Lynn Mulvey |
| author_facet | Adam J. Hoffman Luke McGuire Channing J. Mathews Angelina Joy Fidelia Law Marc Drews Adam Rutland Adam Hartstone-Rose Mark Winterbottom Kelly Lynn Mulvey |
| author_sort | Adam J. Hoffman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During the COVID-19 pandemic, young people have been exposed to distressing content about COVID-19 without knowing whether they can trust such content. This indicates a need to examine the effects of social media use on mental health and well-being. Existing research provides an inconsistent impression of such effects. Thus, we examined the relation between exposure to COVID-19 information on social media and well-being and assessed if trust in COVID-19 information on social media moderated this relationship. The sample consisted of 168 adolescents and young adults from the U.K. and U.S. (Mage = 17.4 years). Participants completed measures of exposure to, and trust in, COVID-19 information on social media platforms, and measures of emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Results revealed a null to positive relation between exposure to COVID-19 information on social media and well-being across measures. However, when trust was added to the models as a moderator, results indicated that, for adolescents with higher levels of trust in COVID-19 information found on social media, the relation between information encountered on social media and well-being was positive. In contrast, for adolescents with lower levels of trust, the association between information encountered on social media and well-being was null or sometimes negative. Given the lack of consensus about the impact of social media use on well-being, these results point to the importance of trust when assessing the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 information and well-being. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:41:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-acecb36775de479fa965352327569d5b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:41:31Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-acecb36775de479fa965352327569d5b2023-03-26T05:32:07ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01183The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adultsAdam J. HoffmanLuke McGuireChanning J. MathewsAngelina JoyFidelia LawMarc DrewsAdam RutlandAdam Hartstone-RoseMark WinterbottomKelly Lynn MulveyDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, young people have been exposed to distressing content about COVID-19 without knowing whether they can trust such content. This indicates a need to examine the effects of social media use on mental health and well-being. Existing research provides an inconsistent impression of such effects. Thus, we examined the relation between exposure to COVID-19 information on social media and well-being and assessed if trust in COVID-19 information on social media moderated this relationship. The sample consisted of 168 adolescents and young adults from the U.K. and U.S. (Mage = 17.4 years). Participants completed measures of exposure to, and trust in, COVID-19 information on social media platforms, and measures of emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Results revealed a null to positive relation between exposure to COVID-19 information on social media and well-being across measures. However, when trust was added to the models as a moderator, results indicated that, for adolescents with higher levels of trust in COVID-19 information found on social media, the relation between information encountered on social media and well-being was positive. In contrast, for adolescents with lower levels of trust, the association between information encountered on social media and well-being was null or sometimes negative. Given the lack of consensus about the impact of social media use on well-being, these results point to the importance of trust when assessing the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 information and well-being.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10035839/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Adam J. Hoffman Luke McGuire Channing J. Mathews Angelina Joy Fidelia Law Marc Drews Adam Rutland Adam Hartstone-Rose Mark Winterbottom Kelly Lynn Mulvey The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults PLoS ONE |
| title | The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults |
| title_full | The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults |
| title_fullStr | The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults |
| title_full_unstemmed | The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults |
| title_short | The importance of trust in the relation between COVID-19 information from social media and well-being among adolescents and young adults |
| title_sort | importance of trust in the relation between covid 19 information from social media and well being among adolescents and young adults |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10035839/?tool=EBI |
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