Conceptualizing the Role of Racial-Ethnic Identity in U.S. Adolescent Social Technology Use and Well-Being

Adolescent development and well-being now involve how the use of social technologies (e.g., social media and other online spaces) impact daily life. Especially during crises such as COVID-19 and persistent injustices, adolescents rely on online spaces for social connectedness and informational knowledge. Psychosocial impacts, both positive and negative, have been found among racial-ethnic (RE) minority adolescents. However, the role of RE identity on social media use and well-being has been understudied. The current study addresses differential associations on social media experiences and mental health (i.e., depressive and online anxiety symptoms) among a diverse group of adolescents (n = 668; aged 10-17; 45.7% non-White). Furthermore, the roles of self-identified RE groups, identity importance, exposure to hate messaging, and gender are investigated. Our study found significant moderating effects of RE importance, gender, and online hate messaging. Additionally, the moderating role of race-ethnicity reveals a stronger association between greater social media frequency and heightened depressive symptoms among Asian adolescents. Black adolescents showed a significant association between greater social media frequency and decreased online social anxiety. Significant effects of online hate messaging exposure also reveal associations between online behaviors and depression and online social anxiety across adolescents. As social media adoption coincides with identity exploration, this study highlights how RE identity and its formation in the digital age is important to understand its association with online interactions that may help or hinder adolescent well-being. Future work should continue examining trajectories of identity formation in relation to social media content and differential mental health impacts.