(PS7-A3) Exploring Risks and Benefits of Social Media Use in Sexual Minority Adolescents: Exposure to Positive and Negative Identity-relevant Content

Social media may have unique benefits and risks for sexual minority adolescents by increasing exposure to identity-based discrimination and identity-affirming content. Yet, it remains unclear how often this happens, which may have both clinical and policy implications. Building upon focus groups conducted by our team with adolescents across the nation, the current study explores the frequency of identity-based social media experiences using initial data from the newly-developed Social Media Behaviors and Experiences Survey- Identity Subscale.

Method: As part of the Pathways Linking Use of Social Media to Teen Outcomes (PLUS-2) Study, participants (aged 14-17; 42.60% White) completed an online survey prior to a 2-month ambulatory protocol. Most participants identified as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or as another sexual minority (N = 34; 62.96%) and 64.81% identified as cisgender (35.19% transgender/gender expansive). Participants reported how often they had experiences on social media (e.g., Please report how often you have had the following experience in the past 6 months), which included experiences that were identity-affirming (“I have sought out people who share my sexual and/or gender identity through social media”) and discriminatory (“I saw videos of violence against people on social media because of their sexual or gender identity”).   

Results: Sexual minority adolescents reported exposure to negative content directed at LGBTQIA+ individuals on social media more frequently than their cisgender, heterosexual peers (t = ­-2.77, p = 0.02). Descriptive statistics were conducted to characterize identity-relevant experiences among sexual minority participants (N = 34). Most sexual minority teens endorsed using social media to seek out others with a shared sexual and/or gender identity (79.41% at least once a month; M = 2.91, SD = 1.93). Many participants reported becoming more aware of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity through social media (88.24% at least once a month; M = 3.73, SD = 1.92) or becoming more connected or proud of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity through social media (79.41% at least once a month; M = 2.91, SD = 1.93). At the same time, adolescents also reported being exposed to negative identity related content on social media, including seeing others being called nasty names because of their sexual and/or gender identity (85.30% at least once a month; M = 2.97; SD = 1.90), seeing people crack jokes at others because of their sexual and/or gender identity (79.41% at least once a month; M = 2.97; SD = 1.78), and seeing videos of violence against people because their sexual and/or gender identity (79.41% at least once a month; M = 2.72; SD = 1.73).

Conclusions: Future directions of this work include examining the impacts of identity-relevant experiences and exposures on social media on mental health outcomes in LGBTQIA+ adolescents using both longitudinal and daily EMA data. Given the ubiquity of social media use in adolescents, it is crucial that researchers and providers understand both the risks and benefits and work with teens to encourage behaviors which bolster the positive effects and minimize the negative effects of social media in teens with diverse identities.