DIGITAL SOCIALIZATION AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH: A CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE, LIFESTYLE PATTERNS, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Abstract

The growing introduction of digital technologies in the everyday lives of adolescents has contributed to the concern of the effect it has on mental health and well-being. This paper evaluates how digital socialization is associated with mental health in adolescents through the prism of the impact of social media use, lifestyle habits, and behavioral variables in a contextual framework. The study uses a secondary dataset consisting of more than 1,200 adolescents and uses descriptive, correlation, and regression analyses to determine how social media usage is related to sleep, physical activity, and psychological outcomes such as stress, anxiety, and depression. The results indicate that greater degrees of social media use are strongly related to greater levels of psychological distress whereas lifestyle variables, including a sufficient amount of sleep and physical activity, show protective roles. The analysis of interaction also suggests that the harmful effects of excessive digital interaction are aggravated by the adverse state of life. The findings underscore the need to incorporate both the behavioral and contextual aspects in determining adolescent mental health within the online setting. The research adds to the growing body of literature by offering an integrated vision, which connects digital behavior with daily lifestyle trends, and gives implications to interventions, which promote moderate digital usage and better well-being among adolescents.