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Social media use is almost ubiquitous among adolescents and emerging adults. Although much has been studied about the psychological implications of social media use, there is currently no integrative model in which multiple dimensions of social media are considered. The goal of this theoretical article is to introduce the Multidimensional Model of Social Media Use (MMSMU), which aims to provide a useful framework for researchers and practitioners to study and understand young people’s social media use in relation to their psychological well-being. The model attends to three major dimensions: activities performed on social media, motives for social media use, and communication partners connected through social media. We present empirical evidence showing whether each dimension is associated with better or poorer well-being and identify or propose mechanisms explaining the associations. Before concluding the article, we discuss clinical implications and possible ways to further expand the proposed model.

Self-presentation, a central element of young people’s identity development, now extends from face-to-face contexts to social networking sites. Online self-presentation may change when youth transition to college, faced with the need to reclaim or redefine themselves in the new environment. Drawing on theories of self-presentation and self development, this study explores changes in youth’s online self-presentation during their transition to a residential college. It also examines associations between online self-presentation and students’ self-esteem and self-concept clarity. We surveyed 218 college freshmen ( M age  = 18.07; 64 % female, 79 % White) at the beginning and again at the end of their first semester. Freshmen’s Facebook self-presentation became less restricted later in the semester. Broad, deep, positive, and authentic Facebook self-presentation was positively associated with perceived support from the audience, which contributed to higher self-esteem contemporaneously, though not longitudinally. Intentional Facebook self-presentation engaged students in self-reflection, which was related to lower self-concept clarity concurrently but higher self-esteem longitudinally. Findings clarified the paths from multifaceted online self-presentation to self development via interpersonal and intrapersonal processes during college transition.

Social comparison on social media has received increasing attention, but most research has focused on one type of social comparison and its psycho-emotional implications. Little is known about how different types of social comparison influence youth’s identity development. Drawing on the theories of identity processing styles and social comparison, we examined how two different forms of social comparison on social media related to three identity processing styles, which in turn predicted youth’s global self-esteem and identity clarity. We surveyed 219 college freshmen (Mage = 18.29; 74% female) once in the Fall and once in the Spring. Social comparison of ability on social media was related to concurrent diffuse-avoidant identity processing style, which predicted lower identity clarity months later. In contrast, social comparison of opinion on social media did not influence college freshmen’s global self-esteem and identity clarity through identity processing styles. The findings clarified the implications of online social comparison for youth’s identity development.

Adolescent mental health concerns are rising in the United States, with social media often cited as a contributing factor, although research findings remain mixed. A key limitation is the simplistic view of social media use, which fails to consistently predict well-being. Scholars call for a more nuanced framework and a better understanding of how social media use influences adolescent mental health through various psychosocial mechanisms. Using the Multidimensional Model of Social Media Use, we explored how 4 activities with various content characteristics (intimate directed communication, intimate broadcasting, positive broadcasting, and positive content consumption) are associated with depression and anxiety through 3 psychosocial mediators: social support, approval anxiety, and social comparison. Cross-sectional survey data were collected through Qualtrics' panel service from a sample of adolescents whose gender and racial or ethnic distributions were nationally representative (N=2105; mean age 15.39, SD 1.82 years). Participants passed attention checks to ensure data validity. Measures included 9 validated scales (Cronbach α=0.83-0.91): 4 social media activities (intimate directed communication, intimate broadcasting, positive broadcasting, and positive content consumption), 3 mediators (social support, approval anxiety, and social comparison), and 2 mental health outcomes (depression and anxiety). Using Mplus, we performed 2-step structural equation modeling. Confirmatory factor analysis established scale validity, and path analysis tested the hypothesized and exploratory associations between social media activities, mediators, and mental health, controlling for demographic covariates and the amount of phone use. Model fit criteria (comparative fit index and Tucker-Lewis index were close to or greater than 0.95; root mean square error of approximation was less than 0.08) were met. Significance was determined using a false discovery rate control, with the familywise type 1 error rate set at 0.05. Our findings showed that positive broadcasting was associated with lower depression (β=-.14; P<.001) and anxiety (β=-.06; P=.03), mainly through the direct paths. The other 3 activities were related to more mental health problems. Specifically, intimate directed communication was associated with greater depression (β=.06; P=.03) and anxiety (β=.06; P=.04); intimate broadcasting was associated with greater anxiety (β=.07; P=.02); and positive content consumption was related to higher depression (β=.13; P<.001). Approval anxiety or social comparison played a salient role in these total effects. The findings highlight the importance of distinguishing social media activities when assessing risks and benefits. Intimate directed communication, intimate broadcasting, and positive content consumption became risk factors for increased anxiety and depression through approval anxiety, social comparison, or both. Positive broadcasting was related to better mental health because of its direct associations with lower depression and anxiety.

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak has spurred increasing anti-Asian racism and xenophobia in the United States, which might be detrimental to the psychological well-being of Asian people living in the United States. Objective: We studied three discrimination-related variables, including (1) experience of discrimination, (2) worry about discrimination, and (3) racism-related social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic among Asians in the United States. We examined how these three variables were related to depression, and how the association between racism-related social media use and depression was moderated by personal experience of and worry about racial discrimination. Methods: A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted. A total of 209 people (mean age 33.69, SD 11.31 years; 96/209, 45.93% female) who identified themselves as Asian and resided in the United States were included in the study. Results: Experience of discrimination (β=.33, P=.001) and racism-related social media use (β=.14, P=.045) were positively associated with depressive symptoms. Worry about discrimination (β=.13, P=.14) was not associated with depression. Worry about discrimination moderated the relationship between racism-related social media use and depression (β=–.25, P=.003) such that a positive relationship was observed among those who had low and medium levels of worry. Conclusions: The present study provided preliminary evidence that experience of discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic was a risk factor of depressive symptoms among Asian people in the United States. Meanwhile, racism-related social media use was found to be negatively associated with the well-being of US Asians, and the relationship between social media use and depression was significantly moderated by worry about discrimination. It is critical to develop accessible programs to help US Asians cope with racial discrimination both in real lives and on social media during this unprecedented health crisis, especially among those who have not been mentally prepared for such challenges.

The perceived threat of a contagious virus may lead people to be distrustful of immigrants and out-groups. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the salient politicized discourses of blaming Chinese people for spreading the virus have fueled over 2000 reports of anti-Asian racial incidents and hate crimes in the United States. The study aims to investigate the relationships between news consumption, trust, intergroup contact, and prejudicial attitudes toward Asians and Asian Americans residing in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compare how traditional news, social media use, and biased news exposure cultivate racial attitudes, and the moderating role of media use and trust on prejudice against Asians is examined. A cross-sectional study was completed in May 2020. A total of 430 US adults (mean age 36.75, SD 11.49 years; n=258, 60% male) participated in an online survey through Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. Respondents answered questions related to traditional news exposure, social media use, perceived trust, and their top three news channels for staying informed about the novel coronavirus. In addition, intergroup contact and racial attitudes toward Asians were assessed. We performed hierarchical regression analyses to test the associations. Moderation effects were estimated using simple slopes testing with a 95% bootstrap confidence interval approach. Participants who identified as conservatives (β=.08, P=.02), had a personal infection history (β=.10, P=.004), and interacted with Asian people frequently in their daily lives (β=.46, P<.001) reported more negative attitudes toward Asians after controlling for sociodemographic variables. Relying more on traditional news media (β=.08, P=.04) and higher levels of trust in social media (β=.13, P=.007) were positively associated with prejudice against Asians. In contrast, consuming news from left-leaning outlets (β=-.15, P=.001) and neutral outlets (β=-.13, P=.003) was linked to less prejudicial attitudes toward Asians. Among those who had high trust in social media, exposure had a negative relationship with prejudice. At high levels of trust in digital websites and apps, frequent use was related to less unfavorable attitudes toward Asians. Experiencing racial prejudice among the Asian population during a challenging pandemic can cause poor psychological outcomes and exacerbate health disparities. The results suggest that conservative ideology, personal infection history, frequency of intergroup contact, traditional news exposure, and trust in social media emerge as positive predictors of prejudice against Asians and Asian Americans, whereas people who get COVID-19 news from left-leaning and balanced outlets show less prejudice. For those who have more trust in social media and digital news, frequent use of these two sources is associated with lower levels of prejudice. Our findings highlight the need to reshape traditional news discourses and use social media and mobile news apps to develop credible messages for combating racial prejudice against Asians.

Multitasking on digital devices during social interactions has become increasingly common, but research on this behavior is far from thorough. Expanding on literature of phubbing and technoference, the authors proposed a theoretical framework, digital social multitasking, defined as performing technology-based multitasking during a social interaction, to study the behavior. This mixed-methods study focused on one type of digital social multitasking: phone use during a face-to-face interaction with a friend. Self-report survey data were collected from 222 college students (Mage = 19.87; 82% female; 45% Black or African American, 43% White or European American). Results showed that digital social multitasking mostly took place when the face-to-face interaction was casual, and the majority of the phone-based activities were shared between the participant and the friend. Participants did not hold a negative view of their own or friend’s digital social multitasking, but when they saw their own multitasking as distracting or friend’s multitasking as dismissive, they reported lower friendship quality and higher loneliness. The level of one’s own and friend’s multitasking did not directly associate with friendship quality and loneliness; they only indirectly associated with the well-being outcomes via negative perception of the behavior. Friend’s digital social multitasking had stronger associations with poor socioemotional well-being when the face-to-face interactions were serious in nature. Overall, the socioemotional implications of college emerging adults’ phone use during peer interactions did not seem as alarming as what many may have believed, and the implications were contingent upon the context of the behavior.

Yuhai Cui and colleagues report that the H3K27 demethylase REF6 targets genomic loci containing a specific DNA motif via its zinc-finger domains. They show that REF6 facilitates the recruitment of BRM and that deleting the DNA motif from a target gene in Arabidopsis makes it inaccessible to REF6. SWI/SNF-type chromatin remodelers, such as BRAHMA (BRM), and H3K27 demethylases both have active roles in regulating gene expression at the chromatin level 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , but how they are recruited to specific genomic sites remains largely unknown. Here we show that RELATIVE OF EARLY FLOWERING 6 (REF6), a plant-unique H3K27 demethylase 6 , targets genomic loci containing a CTCTGYTY motif via its zinc-finger (ZnF) domains and facilitates the recruitment of BRM. Genome-wide analyses showed that REF6 colocalizes with BRM at many genomic sites with the CTCTGYTY motif. Loss of REF6 results in decreased BRM occupancy at BRM–REF6 co-targets. Furthermore, REF6 directly binds to the CTCTGYTY motif in vitro , and deletion of the motif from a target gene renders it inaccessible to REF6 in vivo . Finally, we show that, when its ZnF domains are deleted, REF6 loses its genomic targeting ability. Thus, our work identifies a new genomic targeting mechanism for an H3K27 demethylase and demonstrates its key role in recruiting the BRM chromatin remodeler.

Previous animal studies have shown that perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have adverse impacts on birth outcomes, but the results have been inconclusive in humans. We investigated associations between prenatal exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctyl sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUA) and birth outcomes. In total, 429 mother-infant pairs were recruited from the Taiwan Birth Panel Study (TBPS). Demographic data were obtained by interviewing mothers using a structured questionnaire and birth outcomes were extracted from medical records. Cord blood was collected for PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, and PFUA analysis by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. The geometric mean (standard deviation) levels of PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, and PFUA in cord blood plasma were 1.84 (2.23), 5.94 (1.95), 2.36(4.74), and 10.26 (3.07) ng/mL, respectively. Only PFOS levels were found to be inversely associated with gestational age, birth weight, and head circumference [per ln unit: adjusted β (95% confidence interval, CI) = -0.37 (-0.60, -0.13) wks, -110.2 (-176.0, -44.5) gm and -0.25 (-0.46, -0.05) cm]. Additionally, the odds ratio of preterm birth, low birth weight, and small for gestational age increased with PFOS exposure [per ln unit: adjusted odds ratio (OR) (95%CI) = 2.45 (1.47, 4.08), 2.61(0.85, 8.03) and 2.27 (1.25, 4.15)]. When PFOS levels were divided into quartiles, a dose-response relation was observed. However, PFOA, PFNA, and PFUA were not observed to have any convincing impact on birth outcomes. An adverse dose-dependent association was observed between prenatal PFOS exposure and birth outcomes. However, no associations were found for the other examined PFCs.

This study quantified five perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) and two perfluorosulfonic acids in cereals, meats, seafood, eggs, pork liver, and milk in Taiwan using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and evaluated the dietary exposure of the general population and pregnant women using per capita consumption and a questionnaire, respectively. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and PFCAs of 10–12 carbons were found in almost all of the samples in considerable concentrations in rice and pork liver, reaching as high as 283 ng/g (PFOA in pork liver); the levels are two to three orders of magnitude higher than previous reports. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), the most frequently mentioned perfluoroalkyl substance, was rarely detected in many food items (detection frequencies <20% in rice, flour, pork, chicken, salmon, squid, eggs, and milk) at <0.4 ng/g, except for beef, pork liver and some seafood (detection frequencies: 100%, GMs: 0.05–3.52 ng/g). Compared to populations in Western countries, people in Taiwan are exposed to much more perfluorohexanoic acid, PFOA, perfluorodecanoic acid, and perfluoroundecanoic acid (11.2, 85.1, 44.2, and 4.45 ng/kg b.w./day, respectively), mainly due to the higher contaminations in food. The exposure of 8.0 μg PFOA/person/day in the 95 percentile of pregnant women was due to their frequent consumption of pork liver. [Display omitted] •PFASs are ubiquitous in common raw foods in Taiwan.•High concentrations of long-chain PFASs were found in rice and pork liver.•PFOA is more abundant than PFOS.•Taiwan people are exposed to more PFCAs than Westerners.•Consumption of pork liver increases PFAS exposure in pregnant women.