Mental health during war: Social media use and protective factors among adolescents and young adults

This study investigates how social media use relates to the mental health of adolescent and young adult civilians who reside in areas directly affected by an ongoing war. A total of 841 participants completed self-reported measures of psychological distress (including depression, stress, and anxiety), well-being, different types of social media use, emotion regulation, and social support. Results confirmed earlier findings that spending more time on social media overall was associated with greater psychological distress. We then explored two specific types of social media use that are specifically relevant to mental health in times of war: Using social media for seeking and providing emotional support and engagement in polarized discussions about the war on social media. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that both behaviors were associated with psychological distress; however, well-established resilience factors—emotion regulation (intrapersonal) and perceived social support (interpersonal)—showed stronger associations with mental health outcomes. These findings suggest that while social media activity during war is associated with higher distress, mental health primarily depends on interpersonal and intrapersonal protective factors. Strengthening emotion regulation and social support networks may therefore be more critical for safeguarding mental health in times of conflict than reducing social media use alone.