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Impacts of social media on mental health

Guest Editors:
Marc Eric S. ReyesUniversity of Santo Tomas, Philippines
Ágnes Zsila: Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Hungary


BMC Psychology welcomed submissions to our Collection on the Impacts of social media on mental health.

This collection sought to explore all aspects of mental health and social media use; it covered the positive and negative effects of social media, its management, and pathways to develop mental health with the use of social media, among others.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Marc Eric S. ReyesUniversity of Santo Tomas, Philippines

Dr. Marc Eric S. Reyes is a registered and licensed psychologist and psychometrician. He is a full-time Professor at the University of Santo Tomas in the Department of Psychology. Dr. Reyes is the former President of the Psychological Association of the Philippines, a Board Trustee of The Philippine Mental Health Association, Inc., and Program and Evaluation Consultant and Incorporator of Partners in Child Development and Progress, Inc. In 2022, he received a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association for his "exceptional leadership of psychology in the Philippines and globally, particularly his dedication to social issues and his commitment to mentorship." Research interests and advocacy span various essential topics, including Suicidology, LGBT Psychology, Social Media.

Ágnes Zsila: Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Hungary

Dr. Ágnes Zsila is a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychology, Pázmány Péter Catholic University. She also works as a research fellow at the Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. Her research focuses on addictive, aggressive, and compulsive behaviors related to media use. She authored papers on problematic social media and videogame use, celebrity worship, and cyberbullying. She also serves as an Editorial Board Member for BMC Psychology.


 

About the collection

BMC Psychology welcomed submissions to our Collection on the Impacts of social media on mental health.

Most adults and adolescents use social media. Due to its reinforcing nature and the fact that being on social media activates the brain’s reward system by releasing dopamine, its use may become excessive, leading to addiction in some cases. Use of social media has been closely linked with the development of depression and anxiety, and many studies connect it with disrupted and delayed sleep. Aside from the negative effects, social media also offers routes to positive mental health developments in its users.

This collection sought to explore all aspects of mental health and social media use; it covered the positive and negative effects of social media, its management, and pathways to develop mental health with the use of social media, among others.

Image credit: martin-dm / Getty Images / iStock

  1. Problematic Internet Use (PIU), characterized by failures to control the overuse of internet, is associated with a range of functional impairments. However, there is limited research on the specific impact of ...

    Authors: Shao-Shuai Zhang, Yu-qing Zhong, Xu Li and Ming Peng
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2024 12:216
  2. Cyberbullying is a complex phenomenon with multiple factors involved, both contextual and individual factors, such as moral disengagement and empathy. This study investigated how moral disengagement and empath...

    Authors: Sofia Mateus Francisco, Paula Costa Ferreira, Ana Margarida Veiga Simão and Nádia Salgado Pereira
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2024 12:168
  3. The use of social media has become an important part individuals’ daily lives and is used in many daily life activities, such as social interaction, education, and shopping. However, with the increase in the u...

    Authors: Onur Isbulan, Emre Cam and Mark D. Griffiths
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2024 12:146
  4. Research has posited that social media use during the day may be reflected in nighttime dreams. Nevertheless, no prior studies have explored frightening, unpleasant dreams arising from social media use. This s...

    Authors: Reza Shabahang, Sohee Kim, Mara S. Aruguete, Pegah Azadimanesh, Zahra Ghaemi, Abbas Ali Hossein Khanzadeh, Keivan Kakabaraee and Ágnes Zsila
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2024 12:140
  5. The positive association of parental phubbing with internalising and externalising problems among adolescents has gained academic traction. To date, limited research has investigated the association of parenta...

    Authors: Saifang Liu, Peiqian Wu, Xiaoxi Han, Mengyun Wang, Yuecui Kan, Kuiyuan Qin and Jijun Lan
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2024 12:125
  6. We introduce a novel measure for assessing TikTok overuse, called the TikTok Use Disorder-Questionnaire (TTUD-Q). As part of ongoing investigations into the suitability of the World Health Organization’s (WHO)...

    Authors: Christian Montag and Sebastian Markett
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2024 12:81
  7. Counseling self-efficacy is a relevant measure to examine trainees’ beliefs about their counseling skills. This study aimed to validate three scales of the revised German version of the Counselor Activity Self...

    Authors: Joanna Joy Hunsmann, Destina Sevde Ay-Bryson, Scarlett Kobs, Nicole Behrend, Florian Weck, Michel Knigge and Franziska Kühne
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2024 12:32
  8. With the widespread adoption of smartphones, there has been a notable increase in problematic mobile phone use (PMPU), particularly prevalent among college students. Research suggests that apart from being ass...

    Authors: Yidan Yuan, Xinyue He, Quanxing He, Yimeng Jia, Zhansheng Xu and Man Li
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2023 11:440
  9. This study investigates the intricate relationship between exposure to information sources, trust in these sources, conspiracy and misinformation beliefs, and COVID-19 anxiety among 509 Omani citizens aged 11 ...

    Authors: Mustafa Ali Khalaf and Ahmed Maher Shehata
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2023 11:375
  10. The Absorption-addiction model suggests that people worship celebrities to compensate for some personal or social defects, so poor mental state is related to celebrity worship. The current study aimed to explo...

    Authors: Rong Jia, Qing Yang, Bo Liu, Han Song and Zhengjun Wang
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2023 11:364
  11. Much research has been conducted on the association between social networks use disorder tendencies (SNUD; i.e. problematic social media use) and well-being. In more detail, a meta-analysis and further researc...

    Authors: Christian Montag, Marko Müller, Halley M. Pontes and Jon D. Elhai
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2023 11:358

    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Psychology 2023 11:381

  12. The use of social media significantly impacts mental health. It can enhance connection, increase self-esteem, and improve a sense of belonging. But it can also lead to tremendous stress, pressure to compare on...

    Authors: Ágnes Zsila and Marc Eric S. Reyes
    Citation: BMC Psychology 2023 11:201

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Impacts of social media on mental health" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.