Associations Between Psychosocial Measures and Digital Media Use Among Transgender Youth: Cross-sectional Study

Background: Transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse (TNG) youth encounter barriers to psychosocial wellness and also describe exploring identities and communities on the web. Studies of cisgender youth connect increased digital technology use with lower well-being, parent relationships, and body...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:JMIR pediatrics and parenting 2021-08, Vol.4 (3), p.e25801-e25801
Main Authors: Allen, Brittany J, Stratman, Zoe E, Kerr, Bradley R, Zhao, Qianqian, Moreno, Megan A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Body image
Children & youth
COVID-19
Cross-sectional studies
Digital broadcasting
Digital media
Digital technology
Gender identity
Internet
Likert scale
Loneliness
Mental health
Multimedia
Original Paper
Parents & parenting
Pediatrics
Population
Self image
Social networks
Suicides & suicide attempts
Teenagers
Transgender persons
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background: Transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse (TNG) youth encounter barriers to psychosocial wellness and also describe exploring identities and communities on the web. Studies of cisgender youth connect increased digital technology use with lower well-being, parent relationships, and body image scores as well as increased loneliness and fear of missing out (FOMO). However, little is known about the psychosocial factors associated with digital technology use among TNG compared with cisgender youth. Objective: This study aims to examine the associations between psychosocial measures and digital technology use and its importance for cisgender and TNG youth. Methods: We surveyed a nationally representative sample of adolescents (aged 13-18 years) about psychosocial wellness and digital technology use. Psychosocial measures included assessment of well-being, parental relationships, body image, loneliness, and FOMO. Digital media use assessments included the short Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale-3 and the Adolescent Digital Technology Interactions and Importance (ADTI) scale and subscales. We compared psychosocial measures between gender identity groups. We also compared stratified correlations for psychosocial measures (well-being, parent relationships, body image, loneliness, and FOMO) with ADTI and Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale-3 scores between gender identity groups. All comparisons were adjusted for age, race, and ethnicity. Results: Among 4575 adolescents, 53 (1.16%) self-identified as TNG youth. TNG youth had lower scores for well-being (23.76 vs 26.47; P
ISSN:2561-6722
2561-6722
DOI:10.2196/25801