Symposia
Student Issues
Jennifer L. de Rutte, M.A.
The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Astoria, New York
Abigail Findley, PhD
PhD student
The Graduate Center, CUNY
New York, New York
Amy Roy, PhD
Professor of Psychology
Fordham University
Bronx, New York
Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, PhD
Professor
Hunter College
new York, New York
Background. As a result of COVID-19, adolescents became increasingly reliant on digital technology to satisfy their needs for schooling and interpersonal connection. It is important to investigate how the switch to remote learning (RL) impacted adolescents’ learning difficulties, mental health, social lives, and social media (SM) use, especially given the importance of socialization in school for the developmental needs of adolescents. The current study investigated how the transition to RL during COVID-19 influenced anxiety symptoms, learning difficulties, social disruption, and SM experiences (burden and addiction) among anxious teens. Methods. The present analyses included adolescents (N=36; ages 12-14 years; 22 females) with mild to severe anxiety living in New York City (the epicenter of the US outbreak in 2020) who participated in an NIMH-funded study of anxiety prior to the pandemic (March, 2018-February, 2020; T1) and completed online questionnaires in May-July, 2020 (T2). At T1&2 teens completed measures of anxiety and SM burden (e.g., the extent to which one finds social media overwhelming or tiring) and at T2 measures of RL difficulties, COVID-related social disruption sadness (SDS), and SM addiction. Results. Total anxiety did not increase, but GAD significantly increased from T1 (M = 7.58, SD = 5.15) to T2 (M = 8.97, SD = 5.35); t (35) = -2.071, p = 0.046. Neither baseline anxiety or an increase in GAD predicted RL difficulties or SDS. SM addiction was positively correlated with SDS r (34) =.387, p = .02 and with overall anxiety at T1 r(34) = .35, p = .039. and T2 r(34) = .342, p = .041. Overall, feelings of SM burden did not increase from T1 to T2. However, a significant one-way ANOVA, F (1, 34) = 6.75, p = 0.014 revealed that those whose SM burden increased showed significantly greater SM addiction at T2 (M = 10.85, SD = 6.80) compared to those who SM burden decreased or stayed the same (M = 16.81, SD = 6.90). Conclusion. Only GAD symptoms of anxiety increased during the transition to RL. However, increased GAD did not impact students’ learning or socialization difficulties. Those whose SM burden increased during the lockdown exhibited greater SM addiction at T2. This suggests that anxious youth engage in compulsive and potentially unhealthy SM use despite increases in negative experiences with SM. Given the association between SM addiction and SDS, young people may have turned to SM to cope with their lack of socialization during RL. Findings highlight potential consequences of SM use among anxious youth in the context of RL.