Decrease of well-being and increase of online media use: Cohort trends in German university freshmen between 2016 and 2019.
Adolescent
Anxiety
/ epidemiology
Cohort Studies
Communications Media
Depression
/ epidemiology
Female
Germany
/ epidemiology
Humans
Internet Addiction Disorder
/ epidemiology
Male
Mental Health
/ statistics & numerical data
Social Media
/ statistics & numerical data
Surveys and Questionnaires
Universities
Young Adult
cohort trends
gaming behavior
social platform use
subjective well-being
Journal
Psychiatry research
ISSN: 1872-7123
Titre abrégé: Psychiatry Res
Pays: Ireland
ID NLM: 7911385
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
08 2020
08 2020
Historique:
received:
14
03
2020
revised:
16
05
2020
accepted:
16
05
2020
pubmed:
11
7
2020
medline:
15
12
2020
entrez:
11
7
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Research from the U.S. described a decrease of subjective well-being and an increase of online media use in young adults today. The present study investigated whether similar trends occur in Germany. Data of overall 1985 university freshmen (four cohorts: 2016: N=658, 2017: N=333, 2018: N=562, 2019: N=432) were collected by online surveys in the years 2016 to 2019. The comparison of the four cohorts revealed a significant increase of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, as well as of the use of social platforms from 2016 to 2019. In contrast, positive mental health (PMH) significantly decreased over the years. No significant changes of the gaming behavior were found. A slight significant positive relationship occurred between the negative variables of well-being and online media use. The association between PMH and online media use was significantly negative. Thus, cohort trends found in the U.S. can at least rudimentarily be replicated in Germany. Young adults in 2019 seem to have lower levels of well-being and to engage in more use of social platforms than older cohorts.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32650177
pii: S0165-1781(20)30541-2
doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113110
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
113110Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.