Lammers, Alinde (2025) The Effect of Social Media Use on Psychosis in Adolescents via a Self-Esteem Pathway. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Background: The present study is a literature review on the effects of social media use (SMU) on psychosis in adolescents via a self-esteem (SE) pathway. Methods: The review is split up into two parts. The first research question is “how is social media use associated with self-esteem in adolescents?”, with the hypothesis that SMU is negatively correlated with SE. The second research question is “how is social media use associated with psychosis?”, with the hypothesis that SMU has an exacerbating effect on psychosis. The data set consists of 102 articles for RQ1 and nine articles for RQ2. Results: Results for RQ1 showed support for the hypothesis, with a general tendency toward a negative correlation between SMU and SE, though indications were found that the relationship between SMU and SE can differ per type of social media usage. Results for RQ2 did not show support for the hypothesis, with a general tendency toward a negative correlation between SMU and psychotic symptoms. Conclusion: This study finds that there is a lack of evidence in support of a direct exacerbating effect of SMU on psychosis, but that it is possible that SMU may exacerbate psychosis indirectly, via SE. The findings provide valuable insight into the possible pathways of interaction between SMU and psychosis, offering a new perspective on social media and its relationship to mental health. Limitations include a lack of information on the directionality of the correlations and possible validity issues due to the use of self-reports. Future research is recommended into gender effects, effects per social media usage type and longitudinal studies. Keywords: social media use, self-esteem, psychosis, adolescents, literature review
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Pijnenborg, G.H.M. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Neuropsychology (CN) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Dec 2025 10:59 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Dec 2025 10:59 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/6006 |
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