Social Media Adolescent Anxiety Research Proposal

Introduction and Background

Anxiety is among the most commonly reported mental health difficulties affecting young people in the United Kingdom, and concern about its apparent rise has coincided with the near-universal adoption of social media among adolescents. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat now form a central part of how young people communicate, present themselves and compare their lives with those of their peers. For researchers, clinicians and policymakers alike, a pressing question is whether the intensity and nature of this engagement is linked to heightened anxiety, and if so, which features of use matter most.

Although public and media commentary frequently assume a straightforward causal link, the empirical picture is more nuanced. Some studies report small but consistent associations between screen-based activity and poorer wellbeing, whereas others find that the effect sizes involved are modest and may be explained by how, rather than how much, young people use these platforms. This proposal responds to that debate by focusing on the UK adolescent population and by distinguishing between different patterns of use, such as active versus passive engagement, rather than treating screen time as a single undifferentiated variable. In the UK specifically, the topic has attracted sustained attention from clinicians, educators and regulators, which makes locally grounded evidence especially valuable.

The study is designed as an undergraduate-level piece of correlational research. It does not seek to establish causation, which would require a longitudinal or experimental design beyond the scope of a single-year project. Instead, it aims to quantify the strength and direction of the relationship between self-reported social media use and anxiety symptoms, measured using a validated clinical screening instrument, and to explore whether specific usage characteristics predict anxiety over and above the total time spent online.

Aim and Objectives

The overall aim of the study is to examine the relationship between social media use and self-reported anxiety symptoms among adolescents in the UK. To achieve this aim, the research pursues the following objectives:

1. To measure self-reported anxiety symptoms in a sample of UK adolescents using the GAD-7 scale.
2. To quantify patterns of social media use, including daily duration, active and passive engagement, and fear of missing out (FoMO).
3. To test the strength and direction of the association between social media use and anxiety.
4. To determine whether patterns of use predict anxiety symptoms after controlling for the total time spent on social media.

Literature Review

Research into adolescent mental health consistently positions anxiety as a growing area of concern. Reviews drawing together survey evidence suggest that a substantial minority of young people report symptoms of generalised anxiety, and that rates appear to have increased over the past decade (Keles, McCrae and Grealish, 2020). The same period has seen social media become embedded in daily adolescent life, prompting researchers to ask whether the two trends are connected. However, correlation across population-level trends does not establish an individual-level relationship, and this gap motivates studies that measure both constructs directly within the same participants.

A second body of work has examined the association between social media engagement and indicators of poor wellbeing. Cross-sectional studies have reported positive correlations between time spent on social networking sites and symptoms of anxiety and depression (Vannucci, Flannery and Ohannessian, 2017), while survey work conducted in the UK has highlighted that image-focused platforms are perceived by young people themselves as detrimental to anxiety and body image (Royal Society for Public Health, 2017). Fear of missing out has emerged as a candidate mechanism, with higher FoMO linked to more intensive and emotionally driven use (Przybylski et al., 2013).

Theoretically, these associations are frequently framed through social comparison processes. Festinger’s (1954) social comparison theory proposes that people evaluate themselves against others, and the curated, idealised self-presentations common on image-based platforms may intensify the upward comparisons that leave adolescents feeling inadequate. This mechanism offers a plausible route by which passive consumption of other people’s content, rather than active and reciprocal interaction, could be most closely tied to anxiety, and it informs the decision to measure active and passive use separately in the present study.

A more sceptical strand of research cautions against overstating these effects. Using large-scale datasets, Orben and Przybylski (2019) demonstrated that the association between digital technology use and adolescent wellbeing is extremely small once analytical flexibility is accounted for, comparable in magnitude to trivial everyday factors. Twenge and Campbell (2018) similarly report that associations are non-linear, with wellbeing lowest among the heaviest users. Taken together, this literature suggests that the quality and pattern of engagement, rather than raw duration, may be the more informative predictor, a proposition that the present study is designed to test.

Despite a sizeable international literature, comparatively few undergraduate-accessible UK studies simultaneously employ a validated clinical anxiety measure and differentiate between types of social media use. Much existing work also relies on bespoke, unvalidated questionnaires that complicate comparison across samples. The present study addresses this gap by combining a recognised screening instrument with a differentiated usage measure within a single UK adolescent sample.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

The study is guided by two research questions:

• RQ1: Is there a significant association between social media use and self-reported anxiety symptoms among UK adolescents?
• RQ2: Do specific patterns of use, namely passive use and FoMO, predict anxiety symptoms after controlling for total daily time spent on social media?

Correspondingly, the following hypotheses will be tested:

• H1: Higher daily social media use will be positively and significantly correlated with GAD-7 scores.
• H2: Passive use and FoMO will each significantly predict GAD-7 scores when entered into a regression model alongside total time, with FoMO expected to be the stronger predictor.

A null hypothesis of no association is retained for testing in each case.

Methodology

Research Design

A quantitative, cross-sectional correlational design will be adopted. This design is appropriate because the study seeks to measure the strength and direction of naturally occurring relationships between variables rather than to manipulate them. A self-report questionnaire delivered online allows data to be gathered efficiently from a dispersed adolescent sample and supports the standardised administration of validated scales. The principal limitation of the design, that it cannot establish causality or rule out reverse causation, is acknowledged and revisited in the significance section.

Participants and Sampling

The target population is adolescents aged 16 to 18 attending sixth-form colleges in the UK. This age band is chosen so that participants are able to provide informed consent in their own right while remaining within the developmental period of interest. A power analysis conducted in G*Power, assuming a small-to-medium effect (f² = 0.08), a significance level of .05 and power of .80 for a multiple regression with three predictors, indicates a minimum sample of approximately 120 participants; a target of 150 is set to allow for incomplete responses. Participants will be recruited through opportunity and snowball sampling via partner colleges and student networks. Inclusion criteria are current enrolment at a UK college and active use of at least one social media platform. Students currently receiving treatment for an anxiety disorder will be reminded that participation is entirely optional and will be signposted to support.

Materials and Measures

Data will be collected through a single online questionnaire comprising four sections:

• Demographic items: age, gender, year group and region.
• The GAD-7 (Spitzer et al., 2006), a seven-item validated screening scale for generalised anxiety, scored from 0 to 21, with established cut-offs for mild, moderate and severe symptoms. The scale has demonstrated strong internal consistency and is widely used in both research and NHS settings.
• A social media use section capturing average daily time, platforms used, and a short measure distinguishing active engagement (posting, messaging) from passive engagement (scrolling, viewing).
• A FoMO measure adapted from Przybylski et al. (2013) to assess the anxiety-relevant dimension of use.

Using an established instrument such as the GAD-7 strengthens the validity and comparability of the findings and avoids the pitfalls associated with an untested bespoke measure.

Procedure

The questionnaire will be hosted on a secure survey platform and distributed via a single link. A short pilot with a small number of college students will be run beforehand to check the clarity of items and the accuracy of the timing estimate. On opening the survey, participants will view an information sheet and consent form, and only those who provide consent will proceed. Completion is expected to take ten to fifteen minutes. On submission, participants will be shown a debrief screen summarising the study’s aims and providing contact details for relevant support organisations. No identifying information will be collected, and responses will be stored against an anonymous participant code.

Data Analysis Plan

Data will be analysed in IBM SPSS Statistics (Field, 2018). Preliminary screening will check for missing data, outliers and the assumptions of parametric testing, including normality, linearity and homoscedasticity. Descriptive statistics will summarise anxiety scores and usage patterns. To address RQ1, Pearson’s correlation coefficients will test the bivariate associations between social media use and GAD-7 scores. To address RQ2, a hierarchical multiple regression will enter total daily time at the first step and passive use and FoMO at the second, allowing the additional predictive contribution of usage pattern to be assessed. Effect sizes will be reported alongside significance tests and interpreted using Cohen’s (1988) conventions, with an alpha level of .05 applied throughout.

Ethical Considerations

The study will be conducted in accordance with the British Psychological Society’s Code of Human Research Ethics (British Psychological Society, 2021) and will not proceed until approval has been granted by the university research ethics committee. Several considerations are particularly salient given the topic and the age of the participants.

• Informed consent: All participants are aged 16 or over and will provide their own informed consent after reading a plain-language information sheet. The voluntary nature of participation, and the right to withdraw without penalty up to the point of submission, will be stated clearly.
• Protection from harm: Because the study asks about anxiety symptoms, there is a risk that completing the GAD-7 could cause mild distress. This risk is minimised by keeping the questionnaire brief, allowing participants to skip items, and providing a debrief that signposts support services such as school counselling, GP services and relevant charities.
• Confidentiality and anonymity: No names or contact details will be collected. Data will be anonymous at the point of collection, stored securely on encrypted, password-protected university systems, and handled in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR.
• Risk management: As the survey is anonymous, individual follow-up is not possible; the debrief therefore emphasises accessible routes to help for any participant who recognises the symptoms in themselves.
• Data management: Anonymised data will be retained only for the period required by the university and then securely deleted. Access will be restricted to the researcher and the project supervisor.

Together these measures ensure that the potential for harm remains proportionate to the scientific value of the research and that participants are treated with respect and care throughout.

Research Timeline

The project is planned across a single academic year, divided into six phases:

Significance and Expected Contribution

By combining a validated clinical anxiety measure with a differentiated measure of social media use in a UK adolescent sample, this study is positioned to contribute modestly but usefully to an active and contested field. If usage pattern predicts anxiety over and above total time, the findings would support the growing view that how young people engage with social media matters more than duration alone, with implications for digital-literacy education and for how parents and schools frame their guidance. Practically, a brief and scalable screening approach of the kind piloted here could also help colleges identify students who might benefit from early, low-intensity support. The correlational design means that causal claims cannot be made, and self-report measures carry the risk of recall and social-desirability bias; these limitations are acknowledged and would inform recommendations for future longitudinal research. As a model proposal, this document is intended to illustrate how a feasible, ethically sound and well-justified undergraduate study can be structured.

References

British Psychological Society (2021) Code of Human Research Ethics. 2nd edn. Leicester: British Psychological Society.

Cohen, J. (1988) Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. 2nd edn. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Festinger, L. (1954) ‘A theory of social comparison processes’, Human Relations, 7(2), pp. 117–140.

Field, A. (2018) Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics. 5th edn. London: Sage.

Keles, B., McCrae, N. and Grealish, A. (2020) ‘A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents’, International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), pp. 79–93.

Orben, A. and Przybylski, A.K. (2019) ‘The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use’, Nature Human Behaviour, 3(2), pp. 173–182.

Przybylski, A.K., Murayama, K., DeHaan, C.R. and Gladwell, V. (2013) ‘Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out’, Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), pp. 1841–1848.

Royal Society for Public Health (2017) #StatusOfMind: Social Media and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing. London: RSPH.

Spitzer, R.L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J.B.W. and Löwe, B. (2006) ‘A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7’, Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), pp. 1092–1097.

Twenge, J.M. and Campbell, W.K. (2018) ‘Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: evidence from a population-based study’, Preventive Medicine Reports, 12, pp. 271–283.

Vannucci, A., Flannery, K.M. and Ohannessian, C.M. (2017) ‘Social media use and anxiety in emerging adults’, Journal of Affective Disorders, 207, pp. 163–166.